Whilst Skype has long been the brand synonymous with video calls, it has recently lost ground to alternative services such as Zoom (opens in new tab), (opens in new tab), or ClickMeeting, who have integrated features not yet offered by Skype. Skype operates in a crowded market with competitors constantly looking to one-up Skype’s product and capture market share. (Image credit: Microsoft) The competition This makes it easier for participants to join a video conference either directly from a web browser or from the Skype app on a supported device. More recently, Skype introduced its new Meet Now product, which enables hosts and participants to create and join a video call without making an account or downloading the app. Users can create polls, insert files from OneDrive (opens in new tab) or their computer, and even share music from Spotify. Special praise must also be given to Skype’s in-call chat window, which far surpasses that of competitors such as Join.Me and Zoom. Skype now enables users to add live captions to video calls, offers end-to-end encrypted chat functionality, and has even introduced a live translating option that facilitates video calls with up to ten languages spoken simultaneously. However, one of the platform’s greatest strengths is that it goes far beyond these basic video conferencing features. The next time you open a link on Skype, the client will open your Mozilla Firefox browser.Skype’s features go well beyond those of its competitors. In Options tab, in “General” on the left pane, under “Startup”, click “Make Default”. To do this, if you prefer Firefox, start Mozilla Firefox then click “Tools” and then “Options” or just enter in the address bar without quotes “about:preferences” then hit Enter.

You can do that right within your preferred or favorite web browser. If you want to change what browser Skype opens, you simply need to change your operating system’s default web browser. The reason why Skype opens your Microsoft Internet Explorer browser when you click a link is because Microsoft Internet Explorer is your computer’s default web browser. What it does when you open a link on the chat window is launch the default web browser of your operating system to open the link you clicked.

The Skype client does not select which web browser to open nor has its own default browser.

Skype web browser