Improve the Sound Quality of Your Skype Calls

If the sound quality of your Skype calls is scratchy and horrible, you might want to try this really simple solution: delete the file shared xml. The shared.xml file contains host cache information – a list of Skype host pairs and super-nodes that the software needs to run properly. Sometimes the information in the shared.xml file affects the conversation’s sound quality because it’s not optimized for the call’s connection. By deleting the shared.xml file, Skype gets forced to rebuild the list the next time you fire it up.

To delete the shared.xml file, close Skype then go to Documents and Settings/Username/Application Data/Skype folder. This is where you can find the shared.xml file. Delete the file and open Skype again, and the software will create a new file with the same name in the same folder. If blocked ports and P2P background processes are what’s affecting your Skype calls, then the sound quality will improve dramatically – otherwise, something else might be causing it.