Last week Microsoft emailed us and said they are getting a large number of Windows Error Reports from a recent version of the Skype add-in for Internet Explorer. 
Thus:

• I deeply apologize for any trouble this might be causing you
• We are working hard to find the solution to the problem
• We thank Microsoft for reaching out to us to notify us of this problem.

You now have three options for how to solve this problem:

1. Update to the latest version of Skype 3.8 . As far as we know it fixes the vast majority of Internet Explorer crashes. Download it by clicking on one of the download links on the Skype main website.
   If you have a Skype version earlier than 3.8 you will benefit from this update.
   Note that, as usual:
• You will not need to un-install anything - just install over the existing version
• The chat-history, contact list and all other settings in Skype will stay the same
• You don't have to sign up for a new Skype name, your password and username stays the same
2. Uninstall the add-in from the add-in menu shown here (click to enlarge):
   
   If you choose to un-install Skype will remember that preference and not try to install the IE add-on again. To install again you will need to specifically tell the Skype installer to include this option (click to enlarge):
    
3. Another way to get rid of the add-on is to go into Tools-Manage add-ons in Internet Explorer. If you disable the Skype items there that should make sure IE doesn't crash due to Skype.

Some background:

The last few months we have bundled the Skype add-in for Internet Explorer with the Skype client. It has become really popular and we are delighted to see that a lot of phone calls are now being initiated from the web pages. We are continually trying to improve everything about this add-in. Most importantly we are trying to get better at

• Minimizing false positives - we do not want to  highlight numbers that are not phone numbers
• Messing up web pages - we do not want to change the html in any way that is bad for the user or the web developer
• Installation and un-install - it should be as simple as possible

Evidently something went wrong this time for a small minority of users.

To learn a bit more about the Skype add-on for Internet Explorer - please look at this 3 minute video demonstration about Skype add-on for Internet Explorer:

Changes:

Since MS is now automatically redirecting everyone having this problem to this page we will continually update this page so that it reflects the latest status. I'll note changes here:

• In Skype 3.8 we have released version 2.2.0.177 of the IE add-on on April 29th of 2009
• The 2.2.0.147 version of the Skype add-on for Internet Explorer is now included in Skype 3.6
• The 2.2.0.117 version of the Skype add-on for Internet Explorer is now included in the GOLD version of Skype 3.5
• Seems this bug is inflicting not only Vista and the previous version of Skype (as was first posted) - but several Skype versions and both Vista and XP. Thus we are now recommending un-install or upgrade of this component until we can publish a Skype client hotfix (hopefully July 4th).
• More information indicates that it is NOT the latest version having the problem (as was first posted) but instead an earlier version. Thus - I am now suggesting upgrades instead of un-installing.
• Previously we "blamed" Vista - it has nothing to do with it. Most of the reported crashes are actually coming from Win XP Home