Uninstall Skype for Business 2019/ 365 / 2016 and Office Lync 2013

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When we first wrote this post, Microsoft Office Lync was the “Skype equivalent” for corporate users. As part of the release of Microsoft Office 2016, Lync was rebranded as Skype for Business, and positioned  as the Microsoft instant messaging solution for corporate and enterprises.

Instant messaging is great for collaborating with your peers. However i am seeing more and more folks that call the quits on messaging at work and decide to uninstall or at least turn off the IM software on their computers.

In this post we’ll discuss the process for removing Lync 2013 and Skype for Business software from your Windows 7 or 10 PC.

Uninstall Lync 2013 on Windows

  1. Open the Control panel and select Programs.
  2. Click on Uninstall a program below programs and features.
  3. Select Microsoft Office professional plus 2013 and click Change next to uninstall.
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  1. After the dialog box open, click Add or Remove programs and select Continue.
  2. Search for Microsoft Lync and click on the drop down box next to it.
  3. Change Run from my computer to Not Available and click Continue.
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  1. Wait till the Configuration progress ends.
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Disable and Remove Skype for Business 365 / 2019

Skype for Business is integrated into Office 365, and doesn’t appear as an independent entry in the Programs and Features list. Therefore, the only feasible way to uninstall it would be to uninstall Office 365 altogether.

That said,  provided you do have the right permissions, you could as well disable Skype in a quite simple manner, so that even if installed, it won’t start automatically when logging on to Windows 7/10 or alternatively it would run only in the background and won’t interfere with your daily work.

Please proceed as following:

  1. Open Skype for Business
  2. Hit the Options menu at the right hand side of your upper toolbar.
  3. Hover to the Personal tab
  4. Uncheck the check boxes shown in the screenshot below:
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  1. Hit OK, you’re all set 🙂

Remove Skype for Business 2016

If you are running Office 2016, Skype for Business is installed as a standalone application, so the procedure is the same one as above.

  1. In Windows 10, hit the Search Windows button.
  2. Type Control Panel and hit Enter.
  3. Hit Programs.
  4. Hit Programs and Features.
  5. Then highlight for the Skype entry in the installed program list.
  6. Now hit Uninstall and follow the wizard steps.

1 thought on “Uninstall Skype for Business 2019/ 365 / 2016 and Office Lync 2013”

  1. Thanks for a good article. I have done as described, but however when I am in my online bank and hit a link to study a movement in the account, Skype for business opens. This is extremely annoying and I am forced to work with another browser than edge to work with my bank. Is there a way to totally kill Skype for Business in Office 2019? Any help would be highly appreciated.

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