If you are a professional network administrator you know that you need to check and often control the software that in your environment. Skype, while common for personal use is seldom used in the corporate world and for good reason. There are several important things you need to know about Skype:
Skype is a “distributed application” and so even when you are NOT in a call, Skype is using your CPU and more importantly your bandwidth to route OTHER peoples calls. On a single computer, this is not often a problem but on a corporate network the resulting bandwidth drain can cause serious problems.
The solutions to these problems is to:
| DisableFileTransferPolicy—Disables file transfer to prevent the user from sending and receiving files using Skype.DisableContactImportPolicy—Disables import contacts.DisablePersonalisePolicy—Disables personalization to prevent the user from changing sounds.DisableLanguageEditPolicy—Disables language edit to prevent the user from editing language strings.WebStatusPolicy—When enabled, always publishes the user’s status on the Web as Skype buttons. When disabled, prevents the user from publishing status on the Web.DisableApiPolicy—Disables the Skype Public API to prevent third-party applications from accessing Skype functionality.DisableVersionCheckPolicy—Disables new version checking by preventing Skype from detecting new versions and updates. MemoryOnlyPolicy—Runs in memory-only mode so Skype does not store any data on the local disk. ListePortPolicy—Sets the listening port where Skype listens for incoming connections. ListenPort—Listening port number. ListenHTTPPortsPolicy—When enabled, listens on HTTP (port 80) and HTTPS (port 443) ports. When disabled, does not listen on HTTP/HTTPS ports. When not configured, lets the user decide. DisableTCPListenPolicy—Disables listening for TCP connections to prevent the Skype client from receiving incoming TCP connections. DisableUDPPolicy—Disables UDP communications to prevent the Skype client from using UDP to communicate with the network. DisableSupernodePolicy—Prevents the Skype client from becoming a super node or relay host. ProxyPolicy—Establishes the proxy policy. ProxyType—Establishes the proxy type. ProxyUnset—Unset ProxyAutomatic—Automatic ProxyDisabled—Disabled ProxyUnset—Unset ProxyHTTPS—HTTPS ProxySOCKS5—SOCKS5 ProxyAddress—Proxy address (host:port) ProxyUsername—Username ProxyPassword—Password The following is a list of configurable registry entries that apply to the Windows Skype Client as taken from the Skype Guide for Network Administrators (HKLM is short for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) (Skype, 2008): HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisableApi, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisableFileTransfer, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, MemoryOnly, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisableContactImport, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisableVersionCheck, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisablePersonalise, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisableLanguageEdit, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, ListenPort, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, ListenHTTPPorts, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisableTCPListen, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisableUDP, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, DisableSupernode, REG_DWORD = {0,1} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, ProxySettings, REG_SZ = {string} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, ProxyAddress, REG_SZ = {string} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, ProxyUsername, REG_SZ = {string} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, ProxyPassword, REG_SZ = {string} HKLM\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone, WebStatus, REG_DWORD = {0,1} These same registry settings are available for the current user at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Skype\Phone but the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE entries take precedence. |
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Hi there, excelent information. I have installed your .AMD template in one of my 2003 server, but for some reason the Group Policy Management has added "Skype" instead of Skype in the tree, so, I have removed the blanc space before and after the = in the strings area
ie:
[strings]
SkypeCat = "Skype"
new
SkypeCat="Skype"
Best Regards
Javier