Just stumbled upon this by accident. I tried to run my web server but it wouldn’t start because apparently port 80 is already taken. So, I tried going to http://localhost and it loads up a blank page. That’s funny … I am pretty sure I don’t have anything running on port 80. I checked IIS: not running. I checked Apache: not running. I try to run Apache on port 80 again. It still won’t start. It still complains that port 80 is already taken. I start killing every application running on my system, checking every time if port 80 is still loading.

Until I hit the jackpot. The culprit: Skype. I kill Skpe, port 80 becomes available. I run Skype, and I get a web server that loads a blank page at port 80. I kill Skype again. Page load error. I do this a couple more times. Yup, Skype definitely runs a web server at port 80.

Two questions formulate in my mind:

1. What the hell is Skype doing running a web server on my local machine?
3. If port 80 is already taken, does Skype try to use another port? (I tried port 80 - no go)

Is it gathering information or logging my activities illegally? Freaky.

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