For a couple of weeks I have been getting increasingly annoyed by my desktop PC (Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 2) no longer shutting down when I click on ‘Turn Off Computer… Turn Off’. It would close most of the active applications, but then stop mid-way through shutting down and then remain in an idle state. The only way to shutdown the computer was to go through the Turn Off / shutdown sequence twice each time. After a process of elimination I finally traced the culprit to a process named skypePM.exe.

A Google search has found an interesting thread on the Skype support forum where other Skype users have experienced the same problem. Fortunately there is a solution!

Uninstall Skype using ‘Add or Remove Programs’ in Control Panel, then download SkypeSetup.exe and reinstall, but this time click on Options at the first page and deselect ‘Install Skype Extras Manager’. This ensures that the rogue skypePM.exe is not installed and prevents the double shutdown issue.