I never use Skype and having to deal with Skype on the start up screen every time I boot up is annoying. Using this method to disable Skype showed me what else was running that I had no idea about. My computer is strictly for business and I don’t play any games on it. I had no idea that lots of games were launching on start up and running in the background, eating up memory space! They have all been disabled now. Thank you for the tip.
It is another distraction that I have to deal with. Now, it took 40 minutes of my time to find how to turn Skype off. It is an App that I turn on when I need it.
Surprisingly (or not) this does not work after the May 2020 update. It may appear to work, however, Skype runs in the background anyway without a system tray icon.
I first attempted to disable it via the startup setting (both in Task Manager and via Settings.) It no longer shows up there, and so cannot be removed. I then went to settings and disabled Skype from running in the background. This appeared to work, but on restart I got a notification that “Skype is now enabled and you are signed in as…”
The background app permission apparently only applies to the System Tray icon.
Ordinarily I would have left it installed and used it periodically. But I’ve just used Add/Remove Programs to uninstall it… We’ll see how long before Microsoft puts it back.
To uninstall Skype for Windows 10
Click the start window icon on your taskbar
Type powershell.
Right-click on the Powershell start menu and select “Run as administrator”.
Enter this command: get-appxpackage *skype* | remove-appxpackage
Thanks for tip on stopping Skype Desktop from running after logon. Windows 10 completes the logon process more quickly and without the priority conflict with other starting applications. As an aside, for me Store Skype shows a blue icon on the taskbar when running, and Desktop Skype shows a green icon.
13 Responses to “How to stop Skype from starting automatically in Windows 10”
I don’t use skype.
I don’t want skype.
I don’t need Skype.
I don’t use it, so I don’t need it…
I never use Skype and having to deal with Skype on the start up screen every time I boot up is annoying. Using this method to disable Skype showed me what else was running that I had no idea about. My computer is strictly for business and I don’t play any games on it. I had no idea that lots of games were launching on start up and running in the background, eating up memory space! They have all been disabled now. Thank you for the tip.
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Thanks for this. Disabled autostart from a whole bunch of other useless applications as well in the process.
I don’t use skype.
I don’t want skype.
I don’t need Skype.
It keeps reappearing with every update
I disabled skype mostly, because I don’t need it. Therefore it is just annoying.
It is another distraction that I have to deal with. Now, it took 40 minutes of my time to find how to turn Skype off. It is an App that I turn on when I need it.
Surprisingly (or not) this does not work after the May 2020 update. It may appear to work, however, Skype runs in the background anyway without a system tray icon.
I first attempted to disable it via the startup setting (both in Task Manager and via Settings.) It no longer shows up there, and so cannot be removed. I then went to settings and disabled Skype from running in the background. This appeared to work, but on restart I got a notification that “Skype is now enabled and you are signed in as…”
The background app permission apparently only applies to the System Tray icon.
Ordinarily I would have left it installed and used it periodically. But I’ve just used Add/Remove Programs to uninstall it… We’ll see how long before Microsoft puts it back.
To uninstall Skype for Windows 10
Click the start window icon on your taskbar
Type powershell.
Right-click on the Powershell start menu and select “Run as administrator”.
Enter this command: get-appxpackage *skype* | remove-appxpackage
Thanks for tip on stopping Skype Desktop from running after logon. Windows 10 completes the logon process more quickly and without the priority conflict with other starting applications. As an aside, for me Store Skype shows a blue icon on the taskbar when running, and Desktop Skype shows a green icon.
Thanks! In the Skype version I have they’ve managed to remove the feature to disable form startup, so this was very helpful.
Glad to help. Do not hesitate to subscribe to our newsletter, for more useful tutorials.