I was looking into all of the applications installed on my Windows XP laptop and noticed Skype Web Features which I was unfamiliar with so I looked into the details. I wanted to know specifically what the Skype Web Features application did, how it was related to Skype itself, and if I could and/or should remove the application.
It appeared to me to be an add-on by Skype which if this was the case is annoying since I am not a fan of when you install an application if it also installs secondary applications without your full knowledge. Typically in this scenario the application add-on is not necessary as if it was it would be built into the primary application itself.
What is the Skype Web Features?
I wasn’t able to find out a ton of information about Skype Web Features but the information I was able to find on Skype’s web site leads me to believe that Skype Web Features is basically an add-on for every browser. The add-on itself will highlight numbers on every web page you visit and allow you to dial those numbers with one click from Skype itself. To me this is not necessary since it will require extra processing on each page. Below I will explain how to remove Skype Web Features.
Should Skype Web Features be removed from my Windows computer?
Unless you need the ability to one click dial any phone number on any web page I would suggest removing Skype Web Features. While this add-on can be disabled on a per browser basis I found numerous articles and forum postings relating Skype Web Features to slow down issues with browsers including Internet Explorer and FireFox.
How to Remove Skype Web Features:
Removing Skype Web Features from your PC is easy. Follow the directions below to remove this application from your Windows XP computer.
- Open Control Panel: Click the Start button in the lower left hand corner of your PC and select Control Panel from the pop up menu.
- Open Add or Remove Programs: Now click on the “Add or Remove Programs” link to open up the Windows XP application control window.
- Remove Skype Web Features: Scroll down and highlight Skype Web Features in the application list as shown below.
Once highlighted click the Remove button to the right of Skype Web Features to remove the application from your computer. Once the Remove button is clicked a application removal process window will open as shown below.
- Verify Removal: Now just verify that Skype Web Features no longer shows in the application list. Once verified close the “Add or Remove Programs” window and then close the Control Panel.
Now that the Skype Web Features application is remove your browsers should function better. Any add-on to your browsers runs the risk of causing performance issues by adding unnecessary code to process.
USB Skype Vbox – Home/Office Telephone Adapter for Skype (Electronics)
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Polycom Communicator C100S USB Speakerphone for Skype-Grey (Personal Computers)
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when i tried to download the newest version of skype it was english then when i open now my account it was english. it gave me so much disgusted mood i tried many times to download it hoping that it would become english soon but unfortunately it was still arabic. does it mean it depends on the laptop im using? im using viao right now the cs series signature with availability of arabic translation. can you help me how can i download the english version to be able to understand it and i can use it also. thanks a lot.
Hello maricel,
I have not had a chance to troubleshoot such an issue so I don’t have an answer. If you do resolve the problem we would love to see what resolved the issue.
Thanks.
Alex
Hello maricel bueno,
Hello again. I was able to test this out and write an article to help you out. Please click here.
Thanks!
alex
I am a Srilankan living in Saudi Arabia. When I download Skype to my laptop it downloaded in Arabic language. I dont understand it. How can I change the same home page language from Arabic to English? I tried to remove and re download it but again the same Arabic page came. Please help me to change the language.
Thnx.
Hello champa,
Hello. Please click here for directions .
Thanks!
alex
Hi Alex,
When Skype installs, it actually asks you if you want those web features installed, too. So you can’t tell that “installs something without your full knowledge”.
niq
Hello niq,
Ahh fair enough. I don’t believe though that it has always asked if you want Web Features installed unless I missed it when I installed Skype a long time back. Regardless its cool that they have added the option to install it now if it wasn’t there before. If it was there then I missed it and its still annoying anyway because of how it hooks into things. Thanks for taking the time to provide that info though as it could definitely be useful to others who are researching Skype before they install it.
Thanks.
alex
I recently installed Skype and found it so useful that I purchased an online phone number. Shortly after the purchase, I started experiencing horrible problems with phone calls. Callers can hear me fine; however, their voice is gargled and choppy to the point I can no longer use the tool. Any ideas?
PS Skype to Skype calls seem to function OK.
Hello Intouch,
99% of the time the garbled voice and choppy problems are going to be because of your Internet connection. Do you use any file sharing applications or torrent applications? If so I would suggest shutting those applications down and testing the voice quality again. In fact I would shut down every other application that is running on the computer and/or running on other computers on your network and try testing again.
Hope that helps resolve the choppy voice issues you are seeing with Skype.
Thanks.
alex
i cannot uninstall the web features, i get error 2738 everytime.
i can uninstall and install skype normally, and it works.
can you help??
Hello nobus,
What verrsion of Windows do you have? Does it happen to be Windows 7? If so are you installing/uninstalling Skype version 4.1?
Thanks.
alex
i have 7 i have 4.1 i cannot remove skype web features it keeps telling me a network error occurred while attempting to read from the file: C: \windows\installer\Skype Toolbars.msi
any suggestions?
please rsvp to HOLD9207@carolina.rr.com
Hello AL,
Is it 64 Bit or 32 Bit? I am running Skype on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit and it doesn’t appear to have installed Skype Web Features along with Skype.
I would susggest reinstalling Skype all together and then attempting to uninstall Skype Web Features after that.
Let us know what happens and we can try to offer more suggestions if that doesn’t work.
Thanks.
alex
hi there. here’s what it turned out to be. after surfing some more i found something about ‘advanced install options’ which included check boxes for 6 things including ‘skype web’ and ‘skype plug ins’ etc. which i did not know first time around. which is weird because it installed it anyway without asking me. the difference is that the *.msi file would have included that it was installed so when i went to uninstall it, and it accessed the *.msi file there was nothing in there that stated it was installed in the first place! nice, huh?!
so i did another install, this time clicking on the advanced button and checked all the boxes (didnt really matter because my intent was to completely uninstall it), finished the install and this time when i chose to uninstall from the control panel……….no errors!
Hello AL,
Great. Thanks for following up. This should definitely help others in the same scenario!
Thanks.
alex
thanks for puting this up i was looking through my programs and i saw that and dident remember installing it.
Hello pat,
No problem. I hadn’t remembered installing the Skype Web Features either and prefer not to have any extra bloat with programs. Anyway I figured others could use the information as well.
Thanks.
alex
i want this skype
Hello batnabatna11,
Then you should have that Skype. Go to http://www.skype.com and download.
Thanks.
alex
IO need the web highlighting and cannot get it to install the plugins. I have used it before on other machines.
xp pro with skype 4.1.0.179
No plugins exist for skype in ie drop down list, No skype web options in control panel.
Can you help. Thanks
Sorry for the above post. I found the problem. There is a very small “options” box during the install and inside this there is 3 boxes that can be checked or not. Bingo here is the option to use web special tools !
Posted this in case others need to know.
Hello Pete,
No problem. There have been some discussions regarding the options and its possible I think on older versions for the Skype Web Features option to not display unless you select an Advanced Installation. Anyhow we are glad to hear that you resolved your issue.
Thanks.
alex
Hi
Please help. I am trying to uninstall skype 5.3 and skype toolbars from my laptop which is a 3.2 bit, windows xp but each time i do i get the error message 2378 telling me the skype toolbars cannot be uninstalled! This is driving me insane!!
Hello asimah,
Unfortunately I have never seen that error. Let us know what the resolution is if you find a solution.
Thanks.
alex
Hi,
I’ve been getting a repeated error message when trying to update Skype (2738) and it also appears when I attempted to uninstall the program and skype toolbars (which doesn’t succeed) and then reinstall them. After that I’ve found that Skype has ceased to make calls all together. Do you have any solutions to this, please.
Thanks,
Tom
Hello Tom,
Unfortunately I don’t have a solution to what you are asking. If I were you I would look at using some form of application cleanup or application uninstaller application to see if you can get Skype completely removed and then reinstalled.
Thanks.
alex