Windows 10: How do I remove Skype adware?

I think my skype desktop version got infected by some sort of adware.
Just earlier this morning I noticed that its displaying weird advertisements in skype home and there is a ad section in the contacts (individual) pages .. on top that is (check screenshots).

Home Ad:



Contact page ad:




I tried scanning using the default Windows Defender Security Center, no detection so scanned with Malwarebytes and no detection here ether. Also tried ADW Cleaner and HitmanPro ... ADW Cleaner didn't find anything ether or something removed em all but its still there and HitmanPro found a few adtrackers.

But strangely whatever is effecting my system is only successfully infected skype, browsers or anything else doesn't seem to have any issues but nonetheless I would like to get it fixed.

Any help is much appreciated.

And my system specs:
Asus X555LF
Windows 10 Pro,
Intel® Core™ i3 5010U,
NVIDIA® GeForce® 930M, 2GB DDR3 VRAM,
1TB HDD 5400 RPM

:)

 

How do I permanently remove Skype from my Outlook.com account AND my computer? CORRECTED:

Hello, Eeshwar,

Thanks for your interest.

1. The "pings" say "Echo 123", which I'm told comes from Skype. I know nothing about Skype, so I clicked the link in my Edge Favorites and got a corrupted website, which I think left me malware before I closed it. That's when I lost the 3 apps. "Echo 123"
also appeared in my Outlook People list.

2. A "Get Skype" app came with Win10, but I have only glanced in. No, I have not created an account. The words "Skype," "Action Center," "Edge," or "Start Menu" do not appear in Programs and Features on the affected User account nor on any other. (The others
don't have any of these problems.)

>>Here I discover that I've made a bad error in my question: I meant to say, "How to do a clean
uninstall?" Sorry to confuse you. My goal is to remove all traces of Skype from my PC and my Outlook account. I hope you can tell me how to do that. I hope doing so will restore all functions to my User Account.

10/10/2015: The Action Center notice icon in my Task Tray has been indicating that there are new messages, but clicking won't open the app (see above), so I have no idea what they are or whether they relate
to this issue. The lack of action on this issue is very frustrating.

 

How do I permanently remove Skype from my Outlook.com account AND my computer? CORRECTED:

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. Appreciate your interest in using Windows 10.

To assist you better, I would like to ask some questions.

• Are you referring to notifications from Skype?
• Is Skype installed in the system?

I would like to inform that if a Skype account is created, then it will prompt some notifications regarding any updates for the application. So I suggest you to unsubscribe from Skype notifications by logging in to Skype.

To do a clean install, create an installation media (ISO image) for Windows 10 by referring the link below:

Windows 10 herunterladen

Hope the information is helpful. Feel free to
write to us for any other assistance with Windows, we’ll be glad to assist you.

 

In the past I've been able to disable ads in Skype by going to Internet Explorer> Internet Options > Security, and adding https://apps.skype.com to restricted sites.

 

good call garyb0125 but you can also

Uncheck the box in Skype Privacy options "Allow Microsoft Targeted Ads......."

and...

Go to Tools, Change Language, Edit Skype Language File, Save as - to save a copy of the file
Close the Language file editor

then

Go to Tools, Change Language, Load Skype Language File, Select the file you saved and terminate Skype.
Reload Skype to remove the any picture loaded on the home screen

Hope this helps

 

My bad I should have mentioned it, I tried that and it kinda works but not a proper solution, what happens is, skype home keeps displaying the loading circle thingly and for the contact individual pages, the top advertisement section remains empty but its still there ... which if I'm not wrong ... shouldn't be there at all but thanks for trying though.

 

Unfortunately didn't work, after skype restart ... its still the same.

 

Oh and I forgot to add in my first post, tried reinstalling skype multiple times and tried deleting all skype files from AppData\Roaming\Skype, just incase if the infection is there maybe idk) ... didn't work ether.

And just now scanned with SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition, found a few adtrackers related to the taboola.com domain and deleted em all but the ad's are still there.

 

In the past I've been able to disable ads in Skype by going to Internet Explorer> Internet Options > Security, and adding https://apps.skype.com to restricted sites.

After doing this, close Skype and go remove your skype profile (C:\users\your user name\App Data\Roaming\Skype\Skype user name). Delete this folder and then restart Skype.

 

Tried that just now and the ads are still there, I think its adware or malware of sort ... idk .. something annoying that needs to go.

 

A side note, the UWP version doesn't have ads.

 

Do you mean the version that looks like a metro app? as in the one that comes in default with win 10 I think?

 

Also the reason I think its some sort of infection is because ... it says promoted links by taboola and when google'd taboola .. pretty much every result implies its not good and probably should be removed.
And also the fact that well i never had ads in skype until now.

Suggestions anyone?

 

Yes. (they dont use the metro moniker any more)

 

Oh that, I suppose if this cant be fixed then I'll have to switch there but I was hoping to fix this issue by removing w/e created those ads.

Also on a different note, after seeing the ads for the first time when I did, some google results showed there has been ads in skype for a while but I've been using skype for years, how come I didn't get any until now? or is it for adware removal from 3rd party malicious codes that install on ones system without any permission?