60

The Skype client shows a disturbing colored ad at the bottom of the client. The ad is unnecessary and only takes away important space for the contact list.

How can I remove that permanentely?

enter image description here

Even after clicking the close sign on the ad, the ad appears again each time I open/click Skype again...

4
  • 5
    Whether it's unnecessary or not is a matter of opinion. Microsoft, not being a charity, might think it's necessary.
    – Alan B
    May 21, 2013 at 15:24
  • 5
    Correct, but I'm aware of that Skype can make unlimited* calls or its other features. Microsoft does not need to remind me all the time. Also a Word 2010 does not remind you the whole time that there's a new version or that it can handle automatic reference lists or similar ;-)
    – FiveO
    May 21, 2013 at 15:39
  • 4
    No, Word doesn't. Not yet, anyway. But then you paid a whole load of money for Word. You got Skype for free. Ads are how they subsidise giving it you for free.
    – Alan B
    May 21, 2013 at 15:52
  • Detailed blog how you can remove ads from Skype: sforsuresh.in/remove-ads-from-skype-on-window Jun 21, 2017 at 7:20

8 Answers 8

44

I got rid of this like that. Go to Tools > Options and uncheck Promotions and Help and Skype tips.

Skype **ver.5.1.32.104**

Additionaly, if you go to Tools > Options > Privacy > Show Advanced Options in the bottom of the window, you will see something about Microsoft targeted ads..., unticked this and restarted Skype altogether and so long I haven't seen any ads anywhere (thanks to juanm55)

6
  • 4
    This is not enough to hide the advertisements
    – Pere
    May 25, 2013 at 11:10
  • 5
    Well, yes, it's not enough. But if you carefully look at the screenshot OP provided, you'll see that he wants to remove promotions, but NOT ads. May 25, 2013 at 15:49
  • 1
    At least for me, after disabling these 2 options I still see advertisements at the bottom of the client, very similar to the one in the screenshot the OP provided. And after reading the question again, I would say these are the ads the user wanted to remove.
    – Pere
    May 25, 2013 at 20:47
  • 3
    It actually worked for me. Just have to sign out and re-login again. Otherwise it's still there.
    – wujj123456
    Jun 15, 2013 at 23:35
  • 5
    Additionaly, if you go to 'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Privacy' > 'Show Advanced Options' in the bottom of the window, you will see something about "Microsoft targeted ads..." I unticked this, and restarted Skype altogether and so long I haven't seen any ads anywhere
    – juanm55
    Dec 10, 2013 at 20:09
71

Put this in your hosts file:

127.0.0.1     rad.msn.com

Update: nZeus suggests using the following:

127.0.0.1     rad.msn.com
127.0.0.1     g.msn.com
127.0.0.1     live.rads.msn.com
127.0.0.1     ads1.msn.com
127.0.0.1     static.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1     ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1     a.ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1     b.ads2.msads.net
127.0.0.1     ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1     ac3.msn.com
127.0.0.1     ec.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1     msntest.serving-sys.com
127.0.0.1     sO.2mdn.net
127.0.0.1     aka-cdn-ns.adtech.de
127.0.0.1     secure.flashtalking.com
127.0.0.1     cdn.atdmt.com
127.0.0.1     apps.skype.com

I haven't tested the latter. The first one worked for me.

11
  • 3
    Just in case somebody does not know what this does, this makes any attempt to connect to rad.msn.com impossible by making its IP point to localhost. I'm pretty sure it's safe to do, but I don't know if it works (didn't test it). Jun 2, 2013 at 3:01
  • 5
    For future reference, location of the hosts file in Windows XP and later (including Windows 8) is %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. Just open it in Notepad and add the line in this answer. Oct 14, 2013 at 17:49
  • Works on OSX, but does leave a big white square within the 'Skype Home' pane. Nov 6, 2013 at 10:02
  • 1
    That hostname isn't enough to do anything for me. I put together a list of suggested hostnames to block here: superuser.com/a/708801/130906 Jan 29, 2014 at 19:23
  • 1
    Please also include this line 127.0.0.1 ad-emea.doubleclick.net Found here. Mar 9, 2014 at 15:08
31

None of the above methods work for the newer versions of Skype A new method has emerged that works in Skype 6.13 and Skype 6.14, works on Windows using Internet Explorer settings, from Chris123NT:

Open up Control Panel > Internet Options.

enter image description here

Security > Restricted Sites > Sites

enter image description here

Type in https://apps.skype.com, and click Add.

enter image description here

Again, click Add, then Close, then OK. Now open up Skype, click on the home button, and the ad banner should disappear and not come back!

4
  • 3
    OSX users can achieve the same by typing the following in a terminal window: sudo su && echo "127.0.0.1 apps.skype.com" >> /etc/hosts Sep 13, 2014 at 17:01
  • 1
    This works on v6.21, however it will also disable the Facebook integration, at on the Home view.
    – Vanna
    Nov 4, 2014 at 14:50
  • 7
    +1 Disabling Facebook integration seems like a plus to me. If I want to see Facebook stream, I'd go to Facebook not Skype. ;)
    – Sun
    Apr 5, 2015 at 15:10
  • works in skype version 7 win7 Feb 21, 2017 at 11:49
13

>>Note that the steps below won't work in Skype 6.9 or later<<

To get rid of advertisements upgrade to Skype Premium (from http://www.skype.com/en/premium/):

enter image description here

To disable promotions (from https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1111/where-are-alerts-and-messages-displayed):

  1. Click Tools > Options > Notifications.
  2. Select Alerts & messages.
  3. Under Show messages about… tick the boxes for the alerts and messages you wish to receive.
  4. Click Save to update your settings.
5
  • 1
    On OSX (Skype v6.9) there's no comparable option under Preferences/Notifications. Nov 6, 2013 at 10:04
  • 2
    I would like to minus you, but I can't... yet
    – nZeus
    Feb 19, 2014 at 20:33
  • 1
    @nZeus Why is that?
    – jaume
    Feb 20, 2014 at 13:50
  • 1
    Because it doesn't work. See here - community.skype.com/t5/Windows-desktop-client/… Total morons work at Skype support and I'm still fighting.
    – Karmalakas
    Mar 17, 2014 at 9:15
  • 3
    1) I edited my answer and added that the steps explained won't work in Skype 6.9 or later. 2) I'm sorry to hear that you have trouble getting rid of those ads, but don't take it out on me, the answer was correct at the time of writing one year ago. I don't use Skype anymore, but you do - if you find out how to fix it edit my answer (as explained in Improve posts by editing or commenting in superuser.com/tour) or write your own answer. Thanks!
    – jaume
    Mar 17, 2014 at 10:12
2

Updated DNS block list; works as of version 6.21.85.104. Add this to your hosts file (typically something like C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts). Works best with IPv6, since 100::/64 is a "drop-all" prefix. Works with IPv4 as long as you don't have anything listening on 127.6.6.6. You can use 127.0.0.1, but I would advise against that, since the connection won't die immediately if you have another program listening on port 443. (127.0.0.0/8 is loopback, not just 127.0.0.1.)

127.6.6.6 a.ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 ac3.msn.com
127.6.6.6 ads1.msads.net
127.6.6.6 ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 b.ads2.msads.net
127.6.6.6 cdn.adnxs.com
127.6.6.6 cdn.adnxs.com.edgesuite.net
127.6.6.6 cdn.atdmt.com
127.6.6.6 live.rads.msn.com
127.6.6.6 rad.msn.com
127.6.6.6 secure.flashtalking.com
127.6.6.6 wildcard.msads.net
127.6.6.6 wildcard.msads.net.edgekey.net
100::1 a.ads2.msads.net
100::1 ac3.msn.com
100::1 ads1.msads.net
100::1 ads2.msads.net
100::1 b.ads2.msads.net
100::1 cdn.adnxs.com
100::1 cdn.adnxs.com.edgesuite.net
100::1 cdn.atdmt.com
100::1 live.rads.msn.com
100::1 rad.msn.com
100::1 secure.flashtalking.com
100::1 wildcard.msads.net
100::1 wildcard.msads.net.edgekey.net
2
  • Where did you get these? Is this wildcard.msads.net correct or is it supposed to be *.msads.net? * is commonly a wildcard after all, you just have the word instead of the character. Apr 6, 2015 at 16:37
  • 1
    @leetNightshade I got them using a mix of Wireshark, Process Explorer, and good old trial-and-error That is literally wildcard.msads.net, not *.msads.net. Microsoft has some weird naming schemes, apparently.
    – Zenexer
    Apr 9, 2015 at 19:26
2

I created a Windows Batch script to help remove the ADS from Skype, it can add a blacklist to Windows hosts file and also change a parameter on the Skype user settings file.

This way I was able to remove all ADS from Skype 7, including the ADS block that appears on the right side of the chat.

This script was tested on Skype 7.85.105.101 and is intended to run on Windows Vista, 7 or 8.

You can get the script here: disable_skype_ads.zip. Unpack the zip and read the readme.txt file to know how to use it.

If you find any bugs or have suggestions, please add a comment bellow, so I can fix/improve it.

2
1

The way that works for me (version 6.11.0.102) is the following:

  1. Go to Tools -> Change Language -> Edit Skype Language File...
  2. Navigate to s_LANGUAGE_NAME (line 129 on my English language file)
  3. Change the string to something else that is arbitrary (I use "NoAds")
  4. Click "Save As..." and save the file to what you named it (for me, "NoAds.lang")
  5. Finally, make sure this language is selected as the current language in the Tools -> Change Language menu (if it isn't, use the "Open Skype Language File" option to locate and load it)

From what I remember about this trick... since the ads are targeted towards language, putting in a bogus string value will essentially cause Skype to fail at finding an advert to display, and in turn, it will not display one.

This has worked for me on multiple installs of this same version of Skype, and in versions past as well.

Note: I also do this in tandem with what Volodymyr does in his answer.

0

I wrote a program which hides the biggest and in my opinion most annoying Skype ad.

One can find it at:

Just remember, as it says in the README.txt, that Skype must be used in the Default View mode (View -> Default View) for the thing to work.

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