How to Stop Skype From Starting Automatically

By default, Skype opens automatically each time your computer starts and you log in to your user account. This happens so that you get instant notifications when someone sends you a message or calls you.

When you disable Skype on startup, you have to manually open it the first time you want to use it after starting your computer. Once it’s open, it remains open like normal—and messages and calls can come in—until you sign out or close it down.

Instructions in this article work for current versions of Skype running on Windows 10, Windows 8, and macOS.

Windows: Sign Out or Change Skype's Auto-Start Settings

Both Skype for Windows 10 and for Windows 8 can be configured to stop starting automatically with Windows. However, depending on how you installed the program, the steps for disabling the auto-start feature is different.

Windows 10 Skype App

If you obtained Windows 10 from the Microsoft Store, you can’t technically disable Skype on startup. However, you can log out of the program to close it down and prevent all notifications.

Here’s how to log out of the Skype app in Windows 10:

Select your profile image (it's located in the upper-left corner).
Choose Sign out.
Skype will exit automatically.

Normally, when you leave Skype open and you’re logged in, SkypeHost.exe and SkypeApp.exe are running in Task Manager. When you close the app without logging out, SkypeHost.exe remains running so that you receive notifications.

However, when you log out of Skype in Windows 10, the SkypeHost.exe process closes down, too, so that you are no longer notified about messages and calls, and the program shuts down.

The SkypeHost.exe process might start back up when you log back into Windows after a reboot, but the program will not log you in because you logged out the last time you used it.

Standard Skype Program

If you installed the standard Skype program in Windows 10 or Windows 8 (through Skype.com), open the Skype settings to disable the auto-start feature.

Unlike the Windows 10 method above which requires a sign-off, when you use these steps to disable Skype from automatically starting, you remain logged in the next time you open the program.

Select the three-dotted menu (it's located next to your name on the main page).
Choose Settings.
Go to General.
Toggle Automatically start Skype to the off position (the button will turn grey).
Exit the settings screen.

macOS: Remove Skype From the Login Items

There are a couple of ways to disable autorun for Skype on a Mac. The first and easiest method is to do so from the Dock.

Go to the Dock and right-click the Skype icon.
Go to Options.
Select Open at Login to remove the checkmark.

The other way to prevent Skype from opening automatically in macOS is to remove it from the list of startup items in System Preferences. This method stops Skype from opening automatically and is used to view and disable other startup programs.