With that said, now how can I avoid an accidental deletion of Skype from my system. Well there are several ways. If the person using SkypeKiller does not have administrator access to your system, they cannot access it and therefore can not delete Skype. So if your administrative accounts have different passwords than they expect, the IT staff will not be able to gain access. Many companies have this issue, we refer to it as “unmanaged” systems and they account for 20% of systems in most companies. An IT staff should have some sort of admin access to all systems it manages if not by a Domain admin account, then by a local admin account. You would also violate company policy by changing these accounts passwords or deleting the accounts by the way, so don’t do this.

The best way to avoid SkypeKiller is to use the F1K Flash Phone by MPlat for around US $47 that has everything you need loaded on the Flash Drive so that nothing is installed on your computer. Now you can not use any old Flash Drive as it has to be designed for Skype as the F1K is. If you install Skype to another location on your system, SkypeKiller deletes the default install file location and the registry entries which only seem to affect when you logon to Skype removing your auto-logon settings. Plus it would be trivial to scan the computer for where Skype is actually loaded other than the default and I would expect SK would do this in the next release, I am surprised it is not in this release. The F1K Flash drive has a built-in audio device and by using a standard 2.5mm headset just like your cell phone uses, you can plug this puppy into a USB slot of any Windows computer and make your Skype calls, File Transfers and chat right from the flash drive. The F1K also saves all your contacts and chat history to the Flash Drive and you even have around 90Meg of storage for file transfers!

Another method to avoid SkypeKiller is use a Pocket PC device with WiFi. Of course you need open WiFi to use it, but many companies have WiFi these days. Another way is to use a fully Skype enabled device like the new Accton WiFi phone that does not use a computer. Also, you can install VMWare or Virtual PC and create a ‘virtual pc’ on your computer to run programs like Skype and avoid scans and deletion. SkypeKiller is not the panacea of avoiding Skype on your network, a good Security Policy and detection process is needed, not just a tool that misses many instances of Skype, but of course it does do the 80/20 rule. In my business, the 20% is what I worry about.

Michael Gough is a regular contributor to the Skype Journal on matters of Skype Security and Skype Tips. He is also author of “Skype Me” a book published by Syngress and available in early December.