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Microsoft Skype Test: Can You Solve the Puzzle 10 times to Use the Service?

Microsoft is using an annoying puzzle captcha for Skype on Microsoft Accounts that must be solved 10 times before accessing the app.

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New users who are signing up to Microsoft’s Skype service need to ask themselves just how much they want to use the communication app. According to reports from users on social media, they must solve a puzzle before registering. It gets worse, they must solve the puzzle 10 times!

Of course, captcha’s are common and a base level of security for weeding out bots during a sign-up process. That Skype has one if hardly a surprise. What is surprising is just how annoying this captcha is. Again, annoying captcha’s are par for the course, but Microsoft is really taking it to the extreme.

It seems new users coming to Skype must complete the captcha puzzle 10 times before being allowed to progress. This is a dangerous game Microsoft is playing because there is no doubt that many people will just not bother and ditch Skype before they even get started.

The issue came to my attention from BleepingComputer, which carried out tests to confirm the annoying captcha is real. Naturally I wanted to see for myself, so off to Skype I went with a secondary email to try and sign up.

Account Dependent

Using a Gmail account, I was greeted by the puzzle even after I verified my email address. However, I was able to then sign in after a classic image captcha. My understanding is the situation with needing to solve multiple puzzles comes when you attempt to set up a new Microsoft Account alongside a new Skype account.

Not only is it frustrating to need to solve a puzzle 10 times, users report the puzzle is a head scratcher and hard to solve. 10 times just seems like overkill.

Tip of the day: With a single registry tweak, it’s possible to add a ‘Take Ownership’ button to the right-click context menu that performs all of the necessary actions for you. You’ll gain full access to all possible actions, including deletion, renaming, and more. All files and subfolders will also be under your name.

The Take Ownership context menu will set the currently active user as the owner of the files, though they must also be an administrator. They can then enter the folder or modify the file as they usually would.

Last Updated on February 18, 2022 4:02 pm CET by Markus Kasanmascheff

Luke Jones
Luke Jones
Luke has been writing about all things tech for more than five years. He is following Microsoft closely to bring you the latest news about Windows, Office, Azure, Skype, HoloLens and all the rest of their products.