How to prevent Skype from starting automatically

It’s no surprise that since Microsoft has owned Skype for almost a decade, the video chat app has ended up as an integrated part of Windows 10. The problem is that it will keep opening and popping up every time you log in to Windows, and this can be annoying if you don’t use it, so here’s how to stop Skype from starting automatically.

Step 1: go to app settings

On the Windows 10 start screen, go to the search field in your taskbar and enter “Settings”. When the results appear, choose the Settings app to launch.

Now select Apps from the Settings screen. This will take you to the Apps & Features menu, where you can change a number of app settings.

Step 2: Disable Skype startup mode

Look at the left side of the menu and select the Startup section. This shows all the apps that have startup options. Look for the Skype or Skype for Business apps and make sure they are disabled.

If you don’t see your Skype app but it is still enabled when you sign in, it may have been manually enabled; there is a workaround for that as well. Hold down the Windows key and the R key to open your dialog box and enter “shell:startup” to open the Startup folder. If you see the Skype app shortcut in the folder, select it and right-click to delete it; this should fix the problem.

Step 3: Go to privacy settings

There is one more step you need to take to make sure Skype won’t bother you again, and it’s just as simple as the first one. Press the back arrow at the top left of the screen to return to the main Settings menu. If you have already closed the window, just search for Settings again in the search bar as you did before. Now select the Privacy section, where you can make decisions about which apps are allowed to run in the background.

Step 4: Turn off Skype’s background mode

Background applications can perform tasks in Windows even if you have not opened the app and cannot see them. It is also a good idea to stop Skype from doing this. Scroll down in the menu on the left side of the Privacy section until you find Background apps and select it.

Now scroll down until you see Skype. Make sure it is set to Off.

With the changes made in Settings, it is time to restart your computer. Go to the main Windows menu, select the Startup/Shutdown section and select Restart. When you log back into Windows 10, Skype should no longer appear automatically.

Disabling Skype startup mode on a Mac

Since Skype is not integrated into macOS, autostart is not really an issue. However, some users might have had Skype load at login. If that happened in the past, but now you want to remove Skype from autostart, it’s very simple. Find Skype in your macOS dock and right-click. Go to the Options section in the menu that opens and you will see that the Open on Login option is checked. Select it to uncheck it and this should solve your problem.