Skype is a great communication tool for online chat, voice and video. One of the features I like most about Skype is the simple Skype Web status button that you can put on your webpage or Facebook page, and let everyone know whether you’re available for chat. Look in the footer of this page for an example.
However, lately I’ve noticed that my Skype connection appears to drop “offline” after a while. The Skype program on my desktop was happily set to ‘Online’, yet the Skype button on my website would change to ‘Offline’ after a while, and my contacts would tell me I was not online on their screens. Changing my status to ‘Away’, then back to ‘Online’ again fixes the problem for a while, until it disconnects / times out again.
I’m asuming this problem has something to do with firewalls, or my router, closing old connections that haven’t been updated in a while. So to combat this, I wrote the SkypeStatusFlick program, which uses the Skype API to update your status every 5 mins, and keep you online.
- If you’re on ‘Away’, every 5 minutes it will switch you to ‘Do Not Disturb’, then back to ‘Away’ instantly.
- If you’re on ‘Appear Offline / Invisible / Logged Out’, the program will not change your status at all.
- Otherwise, every 5 minutes you’ll get switched to ‘Away’, then instantly back to whatever your status is on.
Installation
You’ll need the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 installed to run SkypeStatusFlick. Extract the ZIP file, then double click on register_skype4com.bat to make sure the Skype API is installed (you should receive a DLL Register successful message).
When you run the program for the first time by double clicking on SkypeStatusFlick.exe, you’ll need to set Skype to allow access to SkypeStatusFlick.exe. Run SkypeStatusFlick, then open up your Skype window, and you should see a yellow box popup at the top right requesting access. Click Accept to allow SkypeStatusFlick to run. You should only need to do this once, unless you reinstall or move SkypeStatusFlick.exe.
If you don’t allow access, SkypeStatusFlick will popup to tell you that it cannot access Skype, and you need to follow the directions above.
Now you’re ready to go! Create a shortcut to SkypeStatusFlick and put it in your StartUp folder to have it running in the background just like Skype. It doesn’t matter if Skype’s not running – the program will just wait until it is to start working.
Changelog
v1.1
- Included latest Skype API DLL and a register DLL shortcut, as Skype removed the Skype4COM.dll from the 5.3.0.120 update
- Fixed: ‘Unhandled Error: Not Attached’ on startup, when Skype was still loading
- Fixed: ‘Please accept request…’ message coming up again every 5 mins when it was already on the screen
- Changed build target to x86
- Built with Skype API v1.0.36
v1.0
- Initial release
- Built with Skype API v1.0.31
Tags: flick, online, skype, skypestatusflick, status
Wow, a hundred downloads, and not a single comment?
A quick note that I forgot to mention – you need to have your currently logged in Skype client set to ‘Allow my status to be shown from the web’ – you can set this in Options. Otherwise SkypeStatusFlick can’t help you, as Skype’s servers will return ‘Offline’ no matter what your status is.
I’d love if it people could post back their feedback – did it work for you? If not, what happened?
Been using this awesome program to keep my Skype online for months. Updated Skype today and now SSFlick no longer works. Any chance you could update it to work with the new version of Skype?
Hi Neal,
Great to hear you’ve been using Skype Status Flick!
I just updated to the latest version of Skype to check, and you are correct, v1.0 crashes/does not work. It appears that the Skype API was not included by default in this version.
I’ve updated SkypeStatusFlick to version 1.1, which fixes a few small bugs, and also includes the latest Skype4COM.dll (the Skype API). Download using the link above, extract the zip file, and double click on the register_skype4com.bat to re-install the Skype API. Then you should be ready to go as normal (check in your Skype window after running SkypeStatusFlick.exe for the yellow ‘requesting access’ popup just in case).
Please let me know if that fixes the problem!
- Christina