I use Skype quite a bit. I use it as my work at home phone to call and receive calls using a standard phone number and I use it to let my parents see their grandbaby. So I recently upgraded to the latest release of version 4 and was almost immediately bombarded with “add me to your contact list” spam.

This is especially annoying because the contacts are added to my list (even though I have not approved them) and the options I have set in Skype to only allow people in my list to contact me have no effect at all. This seems to be a very common problem/complaint among Skype users. While there is no solution for this yet, there is a workaround you can do to help curb the problem.

My solution was to uninstall version 4 and go back to the latest release of 3.8. Since doing this,I no longer have this problem.

VoIP is Voice over Internet Protocol. It’s a general term used to describe voice communications over a packet-switched network (such as the internet). In this article I’m going to touch on the several different ways you can use PC-to-PC VoIP.

Important note: Yes, VoIP obviously includes the ability to communicate via PC-to-phone and vice versa. But that costs money to do that in most instances. PC-to-PC calling is completely free and that’s what I’ll be talking about.

Also note: There are more than 5 ways to VoIP. This is just a quick list.

Skype

Web site: www.skype.com

This is by far the most used PC-to-PC VoIP software that people use. In fact it’s used so much that the name is used as a verb that means "to call" (ex: "We need to talk, I’ll Skype you") much the same way Google means "to search the internet".

Skype also makes for a darn fine text instant messenger as well.

The only bad part about Skype is that it uses a proprietary protocol, meaning you must use Skype software in order to use the service. This is a turn-off for some.

Is there a way to call a Skype user without Skype software on a PC? Yes. There’s Gizmo5’s OpenSky. I haven’t tested this so I don’t even know if it works, so if anybody wants to give that a go, please feel free to do so and comment below if it worked or not (and if it did work, how well did it work?)

Windows Live Messenger

Web site: download.live.com/?sku=messenger

WL Messenger has had the ability to do VoIP for some time now, although most people aren’t aware of it. This is mainly because for whatever weird reason it’s hidden.

I’ve found the easiest way to access the feature is to open the messenger, press ALT on your keyboard to bring up the top menu, then click Actions, Call, Call a contact’s computer, like this:

From there you can place a call to another WL messenger contact on your list.

Yahoo! Messenger

Web site: messenger.yahoo.com

Calling another contact on your list is easy in Y! Messenger. Just right-click an online contact and choose to "call" the user’s computer. No fuss, no muss.

Google Talk

Web site: www.google.com/talk

Out of all the software on this list, Google Talk’s is the easiest concerning PC-to-PC calling. It’s as easy as Yahoo’s way of doing it but has the advantage of being very light on system resources. As a VoIP client, it’s tough to beat how straightforward and simple Google Talk is.

Ekiga

Web site: ekiga.org

Linux users are familiar with this one, but bear in mind there is a Windows version also.

Be sure to read Ekiga Interoperability as it explains what will and won’t work with Ekiga on phones, Mac and Windows.

What’s the best of the lot?

Skype, no question.

Why is it the best?

1. It will work easily on Windows, Mac or Linux.
2. It has the most recognition as a solid PC-to-PC software voice client.
3. It’s the easiest to do small voice conferencing with (meaning 6 participants or lower before the connection chokes).
4. The software runs well even on lower-end PCs and Macs.
5. For what it offers for free, it’s extensive and moreover useful.

Do you use VoIP at all? If so, what’s your favorite VoIP software client?

Write a comment or two and let us know.

Since I installed Windows 7 I’ve been loading in a bunch of apps. Some run the same as they did in XP with no noticeable improvement in speed or stability, while others appear to run much better. Here’s a few:

Mozilla Firefox

Since the introduction of version 3, the best way I can describe FF is that it "bottoms out" on XP too often.

Even with something as simple as launching the browser "cold" after system startup, it would pause for seemingly no reason. And bear in mind I use only use three add-ons that don’t tax the browser whatsoever.

And then there’s the FF’s memory-munching tendencies. On XP, the longer the browser is open, the more you see this.

On Windows 7, these issues are gone. It starts fast with the same add-ons and I can keep it open as long as I want.

OpenOffice Writer

This is a a beast-sized app and takes a while to get going on XP. And once running I would periodically see screen drawing issues where things would not land in proper places, forcing me to maximize/restore to reset it.

OO Writer still takes a bit to launch on 7 but is notably faster. And I don’t encounter any of those wonky screen draw issues either.

QuickTime

If you said, "I hate QuickTime", I can totally understand why. On XP this app has never run right. The only time people run and install QuickTime is so they can play MOV files.

Windows Media Player does have native support to play MOV files in 7, so you don’t have to install it now. But I need it because I have a Pro license for additional export abilities to other formats.

QuickTime in Windows 7 runs a whole lot better in every way. It launches better, the menus look more proper and is more stable all around.

Skype

Whenever I used Skype in XP it was a crapshoot as to whether it would work correctly or not. Most of the time it would work without complaint, but other times certain features just wouldn’t work whereas you had to restart the app over and over again.

To note, with this particular app there are only two types of experiences concerning running it on XP. It will either run fine without complaint or it will be problematic routinely. I was of the latter.

Skype in 7 breathed in a whole new life to this app. Now I can say it runs fine without complaint.

Other apps?

Out of the apps I’ve installed so far, there hasn’t been any instance where it ran worse than I did on XP. If there were, I definitely would have mentioned it, no question.

Lastly, I want to note two things:

Windows 7 will not make a bad program suddenly wonderful. If an app was written with haphazardly written code, has memory leaks and so on, 7 obviously won’t magically fix that.

Windows is well known for having strong legacy support. But if your app is ancient and didn’t work on XP, it won’t work in Windows 7 either.