Skype continues to screw around with its UI. More often than not, the changes seem to be for the worse: they either remove a useful feature or they add eye candy at the expense of information density. I found updating from Skype version 6.21 to either 6.22 or 7.0 introduced some of these undesirable changes.
I was able to roll back to version 6.21 by uninstalling the newer Skype and then installing the older version. However, that then caused Skype to start nagging me about the availability of a newer version. "How to get Skype to quit doing that?" I wondered. Here's the answer. It's a multi-step process. The order isn't particularly important. I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro. If your OS is different, these steps might not exactly apply to your situation. Also, in Step 4 you need to be able to add and update a Local Group Policy which I think requires a Pro version of Windows.
#1 - Stop the SkypeUpdate service. To see if this service is running, bring up Task Manager (a right-click on the Windows Taskbar is one way to do that). (See picture below.) If it is stopped already, you are done with this step. If the service is active, right click on the SkypeUpdate service line and select Open Services. This brings up the Services window. Scroll to Skype Updater, right click it and select Properties. Set the service to Disabled.
#2 - Set Skype to not automatically update itself. Open Skype and sign in. Go to Tools > Options > Advanced tab, and under that, Automatic Updates. Make sure Automatic Updates are turned off. (See below.) It is possible that this setting controls the SkypeUpdate service covered in step #1, so maybe Step #1 is redundant if you turn off updates here.
#3 - Now we're going to have fun. If you are not completely comfortable editing the Registry or are not confident that you know what you are doing, please do not do this step. Open RegEdit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies. There, create a key called Skype. Click on that key and create a key under Skype called Phone. Click on that and create a DWORD value called DisableVersionCheck. Set the value to 1. See image below. This is what it should look like when you have finished this step. (Yes, there are different ways to add this key. Feel free to use your favorite method.)
#4 - Almost done. As mentioned earlier, I believe you need a Pro version of Windows to do this step.
Quit Skype if you haven't already. Locate and download the file Skype-v1.7.adm . I found it at http://download.skype.com/share/security/Skype-v1.7.adm . I found this link from a thread from September 2012. There may be a newer version of this file, I don't know. This worked for me today, so I'm going with it.
Open the Local Group Policy Editor by opening the Run box (Windows key + R) and typing in "gpedit.msc" (without the quotes). Hit enter or OK. The Local Group Policy Editor will open. Navigate to User Configuration and then Administrative Templates. Right click on Administrative Templates and select Add/Remove Templates. In the Add/Remove Templates box, click Add... . For me, that opened to This PC > Local Disk (C:) > Windows > Inf . You can either move the Skype-v1.7.adm file to that folder and open it from there, or navigate to wherever you downloaded the adm file to (most likely the Downloads folder) and open it there. That should place the Skype-v1.7 in your Add/Remove Templates box. See image below.
That should do it!
Remember, when you want to update Skype again, you will have to go and reverse some of these actions. That is the main reason I am writing this blog entry - so I remember how to undo what I did to my own PC.
To undo, in the Registry, set the DWORD value to 0 instead of 1. That should let you manually update Skype. In the Group Policy Editor, you may have to set "Disable new version checking" to "Disable" or "Not configured".
This took me way too long to research and figure out, but I got tired of Skype continually wanting to update itself after I told it not to in the Skype Options. I don't like it when I can't have my PC working the way I want it to. Maybe someone else will find this information useful, too.