Merging Skype and Microsoft accounts - does the account name change?
April 23, 2013 7:19 PM Subscribe
I have a Skype interview tomorrow. In logging on to Skype to test it out, I was asked by my new Windows 8 laptop to merge the Microsoft and Skype accounts. Does my account name change now? I need to know what to tell the interviewers who are asking me, now, to email it to them! Plus I have some other questions about Skype as run through a Windows 8 app.
My Skype account is now merged with my Microsoft account. My Skype account is firstname.lastname and my Microsoft account is name@gmail.com. They are now merged. The interviewer is asking me to email them back, now, with my account name.
Bonus points if you can walk me through how a Skype call works now (I last used it in 2007) particularly with Windows 8 apps running it, if my cell phone is involved at all, and any other Skype/Windows 8 tips. I will be on the receiving end of the call. Do I wait at the appointed time with the app running and open, or will it pop up when a call comes in? That sort of thing.
My Skype account is now merged with my Microsoft account. My Skype account is firstname.lastname and my Microsoft account is name@gmail.com. They are now merged. The interviewer is asking me to email them back, now, with my account name.
Bonus points if you can walk me through how a Skype call works now (I last used it in 2007) particularly with Windows 8 apps running it, if my cell phone is involved at all, and any other Skype/Windows 8 tips. I will be on the receiving end of the call. Do I wait at the appointed time with the app running and open, or will it pop up when a call comes in? That sort of thing.
Best answer: I believe that your Skype name should be the same as before if you use the Windows 8 App (when in the Skype Windows 8 app, click on your picture and then "account" on the bottom. It should launch a webpage that has your Skype name in the top right corner summarizing your account).
I was in a similar situation just a few weeks ago, and I opted to download the Skype for Desktop so that I could use what was more familiar to me and didn't have to worry about making sure I knew how to work the app. Assuming you are making a standard computer-to-computer Skype call, your cell phone should not be involved (I guess even if they're using a cell phone you would not need yours for anything).
Yes have Skype on and set your status to available (that goes for the Windows 8 app or the desktop version) prior to the designated call time. They may have to add you as a contact before they can call you, in which case you should be online a little extra in advance in order to accept the contact (after which they can basically instantly call you). There is a pretty decent help for Windows 8 Skype you can look over.
Basically if they're going to call you and you are logged on & available, you will hear the ring and it will ask if you want to answer (and possibly if you want to answer with video). I'd recommend testing your settings tonight (make sure your mic and camera work--there is a test within Skype for that).
posted by kochenta at 7:43 PM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
I was in a similar situation just a few weeks ago, and I opted to download the Skype for Desktop so that I could use what was more familiar to me and didn't have to worry about making sure I knew how to work the app. Assuming you are making a standard computer-to-computer Skype call, your cell phone should not be involved (I guess even if they're using a cell phone you would not need yours for anything).
Yes have Skype on and set your status to available (that goes for the Windows 8 app or the desktop version) prior to the designated call time. They may have to add you as a contact before they can call you, in which case you should be online a little extra in advance in order to accept the contact (after which they can basically instantly call you). There is a pretty decent help for Windows 8 Skype you can look over.
Basically if they're going to call you and you are logged on & available, you will hear the ring and it will ask if you want to answer (and possibly if you want to answer with video). I'd recommend testing your settings tonight (make sure your mic and camera work--there is a test within Skype for that).
posted by kochenta at 7:43 PM on April 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: You had best set up your Skype account first. I just installed Office 360, which connects with Skype, but I already had a Skype account, so my account handle (firstname.lastname) stayed the same, and I suspect this will happen in your case.
But you really need to set up your Skype account and nail this down - no one on the internet can help you.
Unfortunately, Skype is pretty much the de facto videoconferencing tool for small businesses now. We use it with all of our clients, even when we're in the same city (we don't ever use a landline).
You're going to need to launch Skype at least an hour before your call, since you have to accept your interviewer as a contact in Skype.
For example, you're going to set up your Skype account right now after reading this, and figure out your Skype handle. You're going to then send your Skype handle to your interviewer. They will then add you as a contact in Skype. You will have to fire up Skype, see the notification that they have requested you as a contact, accept their invitation, and then you're all set.
If you leave it until the last minute problems may arise. If you leave it until an hour before your call, problems may also arise, but your interviewer may be in a meeting and will not find out until the last minute.
If you take care of it so that any issues are identified at the start of business day (8am) while your interviewer has time to check email before heading off into meetings at 9am and away from computer, well, that's best, isn't it?
It's best to launch Skype first thing in the morning.
With Windows 8, I've noticed that the Skype app acts differently and does not provide great notifications of incoming calls.
It's acceptable to wait for your interviewer to initiate contact. If nothing happens at meeting time, you can send them a note in the chat window to see what's up.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:45 PM on April 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
But you really need to set up your Skype account and nail this down - no one on the internet can help you.
Unfortunately, Skype is pretty much the de facto videoconferencing tool for small businesses now. We use it with all of our clients, even when we're in the same city (we don't ever use a landline).
You're going to need to launch Skype at least an hour before your call, since you have to accept your interviewer as a contact in Skype.
For example, you're going to set up your Skype account right now after reading this, and figure out your Skype handle. You're going to then send your Skype handle to your interviewer. They will then add you as a contact in Skype. You will have to fire up Skype, see the notification that they have requested you as a contact, accept their invitation, and then you're all set.
If you leave it until the last minute problems may arise. If you leave it until an hour before your call, problems may also arise, but your interviewer may be in a meeting and will not find out until the last minute.
If you take care of it so that any issues are identified at the start of business day (8am) while your interviewer has time to check email before heading off into meetings at 9am and away from computer, well, that's best, isn't it?
It's best to launch Skype first thing in the morning.
With Windows 8, I've noticed that the Skype app acts differently and does not provide great notifications of incoming calls.
It's acceptable to wait for your interviewer to initiate contact. If nothing happens at meeting time, you can send them a note in the chat window to see what's up.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:45 PM on April 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: So I took your sage advice and had a friend just call me and try to sort through it all, and while most of my original questions were solved, we had a new issue.
I'd hear a noise like a bell curve - soft then louder then peak then softer - similar to a train passing. Whenever that noise happened, my caller couldn't hear me and also couldn't hear the noise. She could see my mouth moving on video. Then at some point the video quality dropped and on her end she said she saw a notice saying the internet connection was too slow to support good video; we're not sure if that is related to the noise issue. We tried a headset/mike thing on my end to see if that fixed the train noise but it did not.
__________________
For others with the same original questions, here's what we found:
Your original Skype username is still findable in Contacts post-merge, so we didn't even search for the Microsoft account name since I preferred the Skype.
There are instructions that help you figure out with Windows 8 how to add a contact, and I think you do have to do that to make a call.
You can pick video or just audio, and you can actually split the screen so you can multitask by dragging the left-bar-program you want to split down slightly until it gets bigger and letting go. Then you can adjust size by dragging horizontally on the split.
Apparently even if I'm invisible I can get a request for an audio call, but I would then have to initiate video myself and the other caller as well on their end if we wanted a video call. Logged off, I cannot get a call.
posted by vegartanipla at 9:54 PM on April 23, 2013
I'd hear a noise like a bell curve - soft then louder then peak then softer - similar to a train passing. Whenever that noise happened, my caller couldn't hear me and also couldn't hear the noise. She could see my mouth moving on video. Then at some point the video quality dropped and on her end she said she saw a notice saying the internet connection was too slow to support good video; we're not sure if that is related to the noise issue. We tried a headset/mike thing on my end to see if that fixed the train noise but it did not.
__________________
For others with the same original questions, here's what we found:
Your original Skype username is still findable in Contacts post-merge, so we didn't even search for the Microsoft account name since I preferred the Skype.
There are instructions that help you figure out with Windows 8 how to add a contact, and I think you do have to do that to make a call.
You can pick video or just audio, and you can actually split the screen so you can multitask by dragging the left-bar-program you want to split down slightly until it gets bigger and letting go. Then you can adjust size by dragging horizontally on the split.
Apparently even if I'm invisible I can get a request for an audio call, but I would then have to initiate video myself and the other caller as well on their end if we wanted a video call. Logged off, I cannot get a call.
posted by vegartanipla at 9:54 PM on April 23, 2013
The sound issue could be caused by your mic, regardless of headset. A way to troubleshoot that particular problem is to mute the mic on Skype when your partner is talking, or cover the mic with your hand when you notice it happening.
As for internet connection, this is a pretty common issue, although to Skype's credit it's gotten much better over the past couple of years. There is nothing you can do about it, and it's one of the reasons why I think businesses should stick to landlines for mission critical stuff, sense this adds an extra amount of anxiety to your interview.
However, make sure you are not doing any torrenting etc while you are on Skype, as it's a dealbreaker.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:04 PM on April 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
As for internet connection, this is a pretty common issue, although to Skype's credit it's gotten much better over the past couple of years. There is nothing you can do about it, and it's one of the reasons why I think businesses should stick to landlines for mission critical stuff, sense this adds an extra amount of anxiety to your interview.
However, make sure you are not doing any torrenting etc while you are on Skype, as it's a dealbreaker.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:04 PM on April 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
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I'd suggest that you practice tonight with somebody, if you have any friends/relatives who use Skype. You don't want to be fiddling with settings that you've never used before in the middle of an important interview.
posted by number9dream at 7:28 PM on April 23, 2013 [1 favorite]