Skype icon not created in system tray (taskbar)
 

I'm running Kubuntu Meerkat. If I set skype to start minimized automatically, it seems that it's running but there's no way to get to it. It shows up in the process list but there's no icon for it in the taskbar or anywhere else on the screen. Even worse, I can't just kill and restart it; if I kill it, it just comes back. If I issue the skype command from the K menu or from a command line, I get a complaint that another instance is already running.

Either I'm missing something or there's a bug here.

How do you get it start automatically?

Starting skype automatically
 

Once you have Skype running, you can have it start automatically in the future by clicking on the small blue S at the lower left corner, then choosing Options, then General. About halfway down the page there's a checkbox for "Start Skype miminized in the system tray". But if your experience is like mine, it won't do you any good. Skype will be running but there will be no way to access it.

I believe that Skype startup is handled by the program skype-wrapper.