So you’re huffin’ and you’re puffin’. Your blood pressure has risen to 140. Your dog is shivering under the couch. You’re angry. Because you didn’t do anything and then everything froze and now the webcam doesn’t work and ten euros worth of Skype credit you bought still hasn’t shown up. Arrggghh.

There are a few things you can do.

• Head to the Skype help pages and search the Knowledgebase

• Submit a support request and get an email response within a day or two (this may not sound incredibly impressive if you expect live help, but Skype has over 220 million registered users. Even if a teeny-weeny fraction sends a question to customer support, it’s quite a load).

Bonus factoid: Skype’s customer support crew is officially fluent in seven languages — English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Japanese, and Spanish. Plus three unofficial tongues which I won’t share with you. Ok, I’ll give you a hint on one: Skype’s largest office is in Tallinn.

But there’s more. Savvy Skype users have also discovered a little gem known as Skype Forums. Once you know what it can and cannot do for you, plunge right in. There’s an enormous amount of searchable knowledge there, courtesy of your fellow Skype (super)users. If you can’t find an answer, you can post a new question. When that’s done, look around. Perhaps you have a solution to someone else’s conundrum. Posting this will brighten her day and help keep the forum community alive and kicking.

Skype Forums are not an official support channel, but believe you me: they’re officially useful.