Search for online Skype users

http://how-can-i-how-do-i-how-to.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-to-fix-show-me-as-away-when.html

Go to Tools/Options and change Show me as away after X minutes to some other value. Like 4 minutes. Save it.

Then go to Tools/Options again and set it to some other value again like 5 minutes. Save it.

To trip up Skype's parser in Windows 10 (tested with Skype for Business 2016, in which the old solution of using !! or @@ no longer works), you need to insert a character it can't handle, like a very narrow whitespace character (Unicode character 8205). You can insert this by using Alt-8205.

So if, for example, you're trying to insert copyright text like (c) and want to stop Skype from turning that into a coffee mug, insert the whitespace somewhere in that sequence: (

1. Type ( (open brackets, the start of what you don't want parsed).
2. Hold down Alt and type 8205 before releasing the Alt key again (this inserts the narrow whitespace character that interrupts the parsing).
3. Type c) (the rest of your text you don't want parsed).

Both you and the recipient you're chatting to should see a c in brackets (the narrow whitespace will be almost invisible) instead of a coffee mug emoticon.

This is adapted from this Reddit thread (although the description there says to use the special character before and after the text you don't want parsed, which didn't work for me).