Nowadays when you mention you use Skype and you complain about the long list of endless problems, people will ask you if you live in an underground cave because you aren't using Discord. Whenever you happen to read articles about Skype, they are usually about how shitty Skype is. Whenever you want to arrange a group call with your weekly knitting club, Google hang-outs will be suggested. It seems that most people are trying to find alternatives for Skype, because they really just want to leave it behind them.

So, naturally, I have compiled a list of the most common problems that I have encountered (and keep encountering) with Skype:

Whenever I want to call with my goatfriend, or whomever, and they call me and I pick up, Skype will freeze for 20 seconds straight (recently it has become 40 seconds) (yay an upgrade!) and it will keep ringing for the entire 20-40 second duration. Why? I don't know.

Every time I want to use Skype I have to re-write my password. In earlier versions of Skype it would remember my username and password and I was good to go. No one else uses my computer or laptop. They are both password protected. There is no need for Skype to keep asking for my password. Note: this might just be a problem with Skype on Windows 7.

Whenever I want to start Skype it takes a while for it to start. It usually sends me to the front page where it loads everyone's most recent status (which I don't give a frick about). Why isn't there an option to choose your front page or customize it? I don't even need a front page. There is literally only one chat that I use and that I care about which is with my goatfriend. Why can't that be my front page? Loading everyone's status makes Skype start up so slowly for one reason or another.

Also, recently Skype just completely gave up on my laptop. It doesn't even start up slowly, cause it doesn't start to begin with. I log in, and then there is nothing but a blue circle endlessly doing its loops.

This changed when they changed the UI of Skype to make it give the feel of a phone app (I guess). Whenever I send a message it will load for a millisecond and then it will send. There is no more nice flow in sending messages. Also, very often, because of this, when you are a fast typer like me (150+ wpm on a good day) messages will start appearing all jumbled up because they have to buffer (that's what it seems like). Because I write fast and press enter after every 3 words, it jumbles them all up and the messages aren't in chronological order anymore. I never really had this problem with the old versions.

The emojis don't even bother me so much (altho some of them are really useless). But then they started incorporating Indian inspired emojis. Turns out that their biggest user-base is set in India. Well, that is really great, but if you give me an emoji that's literally swirling letters spelling "ABE!" or "KYA?" you've lost me. I have no clue what the fringe that means. Why don't you only give those emojis to people based in India? Give them their own version of Skype and incorporate those emojis only in their version. The rest of the world has no clue what you are talking about and will never use those emojis.

Next to having useless emojis and mojis, whenever I want to open the emoji tab it takes a while to load. This is because they don't load your most recent used emojis first, and they just load ALL the emojis at once. Besides that, the emoji tab also includes all the mojis. So, on top of loading all the emojis your device also has to load the mojis. This usually takes a while and is a pain in the butt. Therefore, I have learned all the emoji shortcuts from heart. Nothing worthwhile to put on your resume, but I wish it was.

Skype has this gigantic file folder where it keeps EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that involves shared pictures and the like. It has 2 copies of everything: one thumbnail, and one full blown picture. If you aren't aware of this folder and you use Skype a lot you can imagine how much memory that is eating away. There are no options that will set how much data Skype can consume with that picture database folder.

When someone sends you a lot of pictures at once, you can't flip through them with the arrow keys once opening them. No. You have to go to that folder and then find all the individual pictures or you have to right click them and save them on your device. Sometimes, when you are lucky, Skype will save your pictures in the "received files folder" but that is only on the rare occasion. There are also no separate folders of the people you talk to. All the files you receive and send will end up in the same folder. So your grandma's screenshots of her latest Skype get together with her knitting club will end up together with the dick pics you send to that girl you were harassing because you can't take rejection and the my little pony fan art you send to your fellow bronies in your group chat.

I was looking for a message I send a while ago to a friend in my history and it took Skype almost 2 hours to load my entire history. While I was reading the messages I realized a lot of the messages were missing or mixed together. The way it shows the dates is weird and the fact that there is not a calendar where you can select the date of the messages you want to read is rather disappointing.

You have browser Skype, desktop Skype, and phone Skype (as far as I'm concerned). All three work differently which means they all three are limited in one way or another.

Recently phone Skype got a massive upgrade. They changed the UI and the way Skype works. They added a lot of new features which, of course, only work for your phone. You can, for example, make Snapchatesque picture stories and share them with your friends on your timeline. But you can only share them with friends who are also using phone Skype. If they aren't using phone Skype then you can't share.

Phone Skype has also made it possible for you to not choose whether you show online or offline because with phone skype you can't see who is online or offline. Buuut if you use phone skype and someone else is using PC Skype you will always show as online to them and you can't change it. This actually forced me to make a separate Skype account for my phone, because I like to operate under the "invisible" status.

You apparently need to link your account to an outlook account otherwise you can't use Skype. Why? you may ask, yeah, I don't know either. I made my current Skype account ages ago without an outlook account. I just had a username that's it. Then one day Skype told me I had to connect to my outlook account. Why though?

Whenever I go on live.com (formerly known as hotmail.com) to check my mail I automatically get logged in on Skype with that mail account (which is my old MSN account). I always put my status on "offline" but whenever I click it away and later go back on the website it automatically puts me on online again.

-SUPER FRUSTRATING-

Horrible call quality

I have to give it to Skype, their video quality is pretty good. I haven't found any other desktop program that has the same proper video quality as Skype (no sarcasm). I have heard people complaining about the video quality changing constantly, but buddy, that's your internet, not Skype.

That said, voice quality is horrendous. Me and a goat friend did a test and Google Hangouts' call quality is lower in volume compared to Skype but your voice is way more clear. Skype in comparison to Google Hangouts sounds like you are using two tin cans to communicate with one another; dim and muffled.

Sharing personal data

Unless you go to Settings > Privacy Settings > Advanced Options and make sure there is no check in front of "Allow Microsoft targeted ads, including use of Skype profile age and gender" you will probably never realize that Skype is sharing your personal data with advertisers. You're welcome.

Besides that, ever since Microsoft got their hands on Skype it has been acting up and articles across the web sprung up about Skype not being trustworthy. Here is a database with a few articles about Skype spying on its users: click.

Weird log-ins

I once came across this article because my status kept changing to online or away even tho I wasn't near my computer. The article read that you should check your "recent activity" page on outlook. When I did that, I saw IP addresses from Nigeria. I wish I screenshotted it. I freaked out. I then found out about this line of code you can use in Skype "/showplaces". This code shows where your Skype is logged in. Again, here I saw the weird IP addresses pop up. I then used the code "/remotelogout" which logs your account out on all devices, except the one you are using at that moment. I changed my password, and fixed my problem, but was utterly disappointed by the fact that Skype never told us about these hidden features.

Who knows how many people unknowingly share their Skype account with strangers across the globe.

To unread or not to unread

Let's say my goatfriend sends me a YouTube video on Skype. I click on the video and watch it. Subsequently, Skype tells me I did not read his message. Yep. I literally went to Skype, clicked on the video, am watching said video, but Skype is telling me that I never read the message and thus keeps showing that annoying orange circle.

Another anecdotal story: my friend sends me a message, I reply to it, am waiting in chat on Skype for his reply, and Skype is still telling me I never read the message. Pretty sure I read the message.

Updates take too long

Whenever you want to update Skype you have to restart the entire program, it usually takes a while for the update to install, and you cannot use the program while it updates.This is annoying. I don't mind the restart, but I mind the waiting and the not-being-able-to-use-the-program part. On top of that, it very often updates on its own, even when you have auto-update off.

And let's not even talk about the fact that Skype gets buggier and slower with every single update. Thanks Microsoft!

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There are just so many specific problems that so many people seem to have that Microsoft isn't addressing. Instead of making their program work properly, they only try to make it more fancy and attractive while most of the big problems still remain. In a few years, Skype will be obsolete, eaten by its competitors.

So, what are your problems with Skype? Anything similar? Other complains I have overseen? Do not hesitate to comment and share your experience.