Skype Needn't Be A Network Killer

Skype has gotten a reputation for being a big-time security headache for networks. But, in fact, if you're willing to spend the time, there are ways get the rogue application under control. Plenty of network administrators have complained that they can't even figure out who's using Skype on their network. But Skype guru Michael Gough has written a script that will hunt down all Skype users on a network. Check out his article How To Manage Skype in the Enterprise for details.

Gough does more in the article than just show you how to track down Skype users. He also offers advice on Skype configuration, and shows you how to create and edit several .xml files so you can control Skype configuration network-wide.

This isn't to say that Skype doesn't need to do more to make itself network-friendly, because it does. Until it stops playing the game of rogue app, and begins following security rules, it will remain on network administrators' hit list.

But given that eBay wants to make back its several-billion investment, I'm betting Skype will finally start playing nice with networks.