Transferring your Skype settings to another computer

I installed Skype on my new computer and found that my contact list is empty. So...this means Skype keeps my contact list locally instead of keeping it on the central server like MSN Messenger does.
I wanted to transfer all my Skype contacts from my old computer to the new one. It would be nice if Skype provided a Contact List Export/Import feature, but until then, I found this simple hack on their support forum that did just what was needed:

1. On your old computer, go to the "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Skype folder. There you should see a folder with your Skype ID as the name.
   
2. Copy that entire folder to your new computer, under the same location. Make sure you shut down Skype before copying, otherwise you'll get some sharing violations.
   
3. Start up Skype on the new computer. You may be asked to enter your login information again.
   
4. After logging in, you may see that your contact list is empty. Don't panic! Just restart Skype. This time you should see your full "imported" contact list.
   

The above procedure not only imported the contact list, but also the chat history, call history, the works.

Visual Studio 6 and AMD64?

So after five years, I finally took the chance to upgrade to a (much) more powerful computer. And to add insult to injuries, it's a 64-bit machine (an AMD64 eMachine to be exact), running Windows XP. An aside note of caution: if you're considering putting on Service Pack 2 (SP2) and have no real need for doing it other than wanting to get the latest and greatest, my advice: don't! I found that a couple of my applications just won't run after it. I had to take out SP2, put SP1 back on, and then things ran fine.

Right now, I'm trying to install Visual Studio 6 on the new machine and having a hell of a time. The installer refuses to run, giving weird error messages about missing kernel32.dll entry points. I checked and the entry point is there in the DLL. I have a hunch it might have something to do with the 64-bit thing. I googled everywhere and so far haven't found a solution yet. Perhaps this is a sign to migrate to .NET? ;-)

Firefox 1.0.1

It has begun: Firefox security vulnerabilities are cropping up.



Phishers haven't seem to have paid too much attention because they're too busy hacking away at IE. Or is it because they know it's a geek's browser of choice? And when you touch geek, there's hell to pay. :-) But all this geekosity can only protect us for so long. Being a target is inevitable as the browser gains more popularity.

Interesting to see what the patch rate (turnaround time from discovery to patch availability) will be like for future vulnerabilities, compare to the likes of IE.


Here's a list of vulnerabilities patched in 1.0.1.

Ugrade now!