If you are an independent contractor working for many companies, you are expected to jump through many technology hoops each day. Technology changes as we sleep so understanding what happens in your office is important.
Wendy is a captioner and just purchased a Windows 8.1 computer. She shared with me the steps she took to setup Skype on her computer. I thought to myself, wow, who would have thought!?!?! I hope you find her instructions helpful:
Windows 8.1 comes with a preinstalled "modern app" version of Skype. Windows 8.1 behaves somewhat like the interface for a tablet or smart phone when using the new Start Page which replaces the Start button / menu in earlier versions. The typical user probably only has one Skype account and so Windows is designed to sync / merge the windows logon account with a single Skype account. While this probably works fine for the typical user, it causes problems for CART providers who need the option of frequently signing into Skype with multiple Skype accounts.
To use the "modern app" like version of Skype that comes preinstalled, the user would need to set up a windows logon account to pair with each and every Skype ID, or alternatively change the windows system settings for Skype each time a different ID were to be used. This is not a practical solution; however, there is a work around.
The user can go to the Skype.com website and select to download the "desktop version" of Skype. The link is labeled "Get Skype for Windows desktop" but do not use the link labeled, "Get Skype of Modern Windows" which is further down the page. The desktop version can be installed and then launched from the old Windows desktop which is still available in Windows 8.1 by pressing the Windows key which toggles between the old familiar Windows desktop and the new Windows 8.1 tiled Start Page.
A problem regarding Skype and realtime text streaming platforms is the Skype Click-to-Call add-on for Internet Explorer. When installing the desktop version of Skype there is checkbox that allows the user to also install the add-on for their web browsers. This checkbox should be cleared; however, if that was not done then it can be enabled / disabled in the internet browser settings. The click-to-call add-in recognizes phone numbers on web pages, including the transcript window on a realtime text streaming platform, and formats the number as a hyperlink so that the user can at-will click on the number to call it through Skype.
While this works great for static pages, it produces less than optimal results in the dynamic environment of the real time text streaming window of 1CapApp. The add-on causes the cursor to jump back and forth in the window after the first time a phone number is recognized. If the text has scrolled more than one page then the entire page jumps up to the last hyperlink and back down to the current cursor position which makes it difficult for the Court Reporter or CART Captioner to follow along in the View window on the realtime text streaming platform 1CapApp. I don't know if the client sees the hyperlink on their end or experiences the jumping cursor. The easiest solution is to just keep the Skype click to call add-on disabled.
I also happen to know that Skype causes the Firefox browser to act up as well so Internet Explorer seems to be the browser of choice with Skype. In Firefox when Skype is open I have observed on multiple computers that the system hourglass gets stuck on.
The steps to disable the add-on in Internet Explorer is as follows:
1. Navigate the Internet Explorer menu bar along this path: Tools menu -> Manage Add-ons -> Toolbars and Extensions.
2. Scroll down to the Skype heading.
3. If present, select the Skype add-on named "Skype Click to Cal for Internet Explorer". In the lower right hand corner of the manage add-ons window there will be a button to disable the add-on.
4. If present, select the second Skype add-on named, "Skype Click to Call settings" and then click the disable button for that add-on as well.
5. Click the close button, and restart the Internet Explorer application.
Author: Wendy Sandow-Tetzlaff
