Windows Users Caused Skype Outage

skype_logo.jpgSkype has finally explained the reasons behind the 36+ hour outage of their popular P2P VOIP service last week: Windows Users.

According to Skype the outage was caused by “a massive restart of our user’s computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine software update” which The Register points out was Microsoft’s monthly patch Tuesday. Patch Tuesday is the time of the month Windows users receive security updates that often result in widespread reboots by Thursday.

Skype said that whilst their peer-to-peer network has an inbuilt ability to self-heal, the event “revealed a previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly.”

See our previous Skype coverage, including the Skype outage here.