I have a new update to share with you all today. Well I actually updated just a few hours ago so here I am again. I have been having some issues with Skype via the Windows 8 app and had been meaning to see if there was a way to run it in desktop mode. You see, the app is brilliant, great for touchscreen and so on..however there are flaws! If I may explain, Windows eliminates or suspends apps that are either causing trouble if I remember correctly or not been used for a while. Yup you get it! Everytime I stop using Skype even for just a few minutes it closes, evidenced by me navigating back to the app and being shown the splash scren (basically how all apps start, a full screen picture, often more or less a background colour, in the case of Skype you are presented with a nice blue colour with a picture of a cog as the app starts up) although oddly I am sure I have been on my desktop, received the notification in the top right hand corner of a new Skype message and yet had to watch the app reload when checking this message out. Anyhow, the solution is here. It turns out there is actually a seperate piece of software as oppose to Chrome and Internet explorer whereby with the same piece of software you are able to switch between App and Desktop mode and fairly effortlessly at that (When it works!).

Here is the link from Skype-https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA12162/how-do-i-get-the-desktop-version-of-skype-windows-8-or-above

Mine has just finished installing so I will log in now for the first time on the Windows 8 desktop version. Visually it is different to the version I had on Windows 7 (Unless they have just updated since I last used it there however it has that sleek look all apps and programs on windows 8 tend to have) and there are two options now. You can sign in with your Skype name or with your Microsoft account details so this is definitely a more modern version. I imagine the rest of the software runs the same as the 7 version.

Thankyou for reading :) Enjoy your day.

-Update one.

Ok I signed and got a bit of a surprise. After Skype did what the windows 7 version does, ask to check your microphone etc and asking me to upload a picture unaware that my details are the same as the Skype app so the two pieces of software are not self aware at first, I managed to bypass the photo prompts somehow despite not remembering seeing a button, I suddenly got a flood of messages along with the continous sounds to go with them! Basically, if my assumption is correct although again this is odd considering they are the same accounts regardless of software using them, every single message I have received since using my 8 app instead of the 7 version on my old laptop was now coming through on the 8 desktop software. Why? I checkd my profile and bingo! My picture was there, hence me saying the software was not self aware at first but soon corrected itself with my uptodate details and I checked some messages that I was allegeddly getting but knew of course I had replied to ages ago on my 8 app and sure enough this piece of software had deduced I had replied because it showed my replies at the bottom, so why it was programmed to send all of this as some kind of massive hello thank you for downloading me, I do not know, I guess the two pieces of software are not synced that well.
What I do like is that lots of information is displayed in one viewing rather than the app that takes up half the screen showing just a few recent messages, this is not neccessarily negative for me and it does not take long to touch another part to view something else but it is handy seeing who is online clearer with the desktop version. Ok update two- I just checked those what must of been hundreds of messages and all is fine. By the way, not hundreds realistically, notifications yes but one person I talk to a lot from France on my 8 app had 100 messages or so from her alone so you only have to pick a person and scroll to the very bottom to check the software realised I had already replied so I only had to check ten or so contacts.