How to block Skype ads

Skype can offer high-quality VoIP services and data-sharing capabilities without charging anything for its services, so it's no surprise that both regular and business users choose it as their go-to communication tool. Sadly, like many other popular web-based utilities (browsers, Spotify, uTorrent, etc.) and services (Facebook, YouTube, etc.), it displays annoying ads. The last thing you want to see while having an important conversation in Skype is an irrelevant ad.

Skype With Ads

This guide will show you how to get rid of those annoying commercials that fill much-needed space on your Skype window.

Block Skype ads

1. Quit the Skype program.

2. The next thing you need to do is to open the Control Panel application. You can do that by using a Run command (hit the Win+R keys to reveal the Run window and enter the "Control Panel" keywords) or Windows' default search tool (click the "Start" icon from your taskbar, type the "Control Panel" keywords and click on the app's name from the results list).

3. Go to Network & Internet -> Internet Options.

Control Panel's Internet Options

4. Access the Security tab from the Internet Options window.

Internet Options' Security Tab

5. Click the "Restricted Sites" icon, then the "Sites" button.

Restricted Sites Window

6. Enter the "https://apps.skype.com/" line (minus the quotes) in the "Add this website to the zone" field. Click the "Add" button, then the "Close" button below it.

7. Click the "Apply" and "OK" buttons.

8. Launch the Skype app and notice that all ads are hidden.

Skype Window Without Ads

Remove Skype empty placeholders

If you're using the version 7 of Skype, you will need to do more than hiding the ads from the main window of the application. After completing the aforementioned steps, you will notice that the place where the advertisements were displayed isn't hidden. An empty panel will still fill your Skype screen and take up the conversation space.

Here's what you need to do to remove those empty placeholders for good:

1. Quit Skype.

2. Access your Skype profile directory. You can do that by hitting the Win+R keys on your keyboard and entering the "%appdata%\skype" line (without the quotes).

Accessing Skype Profile Folder

3. Find the folder showing your username (in my case, it was "live#3ajohn01011988_1").

4. Open the config.xml file from the aforementioned directory.

5. Find and change the line "<AdvertPlaceholder>1</AdvertPlaceholder>" to "<AdvertPlaceholder>0</AdvertPlaceholder>". Save the changes and close the document.

Editing config.xml File

6. Launch the Skype app and notice that the empty placeholders are gone for good.

Conclusion

Completing all of the aforementioned steps might be a great idea, especially if you're the kind of user who spends a lot of time on Skype and wants to easily get rid of the annoying ads that take up space on your conversation screens.

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