Packaging Skype with Auto Update disabled

EDITED: I have edited this post on 30-Aug-2013 after some users comments that the given solution is not working. I have studied in depth the skype update process and created this solution for all. Please check below (Edited Section) for more information.

Recently while packaging Skype for enterprise version, I could not disable the Auto Updates and finally found a way to get rid of it.

You can get the latest version of Skype setup in MSI format from the following URL: http://download.skype.com/msi/SkypeSetup.msi or
http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-msi

There is no registry, file which can disable the Auto Update functionality of Skype. I searched in lots of forums and all said that it automatically prompts for update. So finally I decided to look in the MSI and find why and how it is doing it.

What I found was that Skype has an Updater.exe in the installation folder and it also creates a Skype Update service which points to this exe.

I just removed this service and updater.exe file from the skype msi package and it worked.

No need to do anything else. Just do this small part and you are done with removing the Auto Update in Skype.

Edited:
I have been asked and told by a lot of users that this is not working so I am adding a further solution which will definitely work without a doubt. I have mass deployed this and it has worked fine. For all the users who were getting the pop ups, this has fixed it.

You need to create a dummy SetupSkype.exe file and a Skypefix.vbs as below and add it to your INSTALLDIR (C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\) of the package.

SkypeFix.vbs:
'==============================================
dim filesys, oShell
Set filesys = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

des1 = oShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings ("%Temp%")
sup = oShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings ("%ProgramFiles%")
windir = oShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings ("%Windir%")

destfile1= des1 & "\SkypeSetup.exe"
sourcefile1= sup & "\Skype\Phone\SkypeSetup.exe"

'Copy files

If filesys.FileExists(sourcefile1) Then

 a= filesys.CopyFile (sourcefile1, destfile1,True)

End If

oShell.Run windir & "\System32\Icacls.exe " & destfile1 & " /deny Everyone:D"

'=================================================

After this you need to create an Active Setup registry key which will run this vbs file for every user who logs off and logs in. After this there will be no upgrade issue.

This script works on the fact that SkypeSetup.exe gets downloaded from internet to %temp% folder of user and when it is downloaded, it starts prompting up for upgrade. I have created this file before hand in %temp% folder or replace the already existing one with this dummy file and then put a deny restriction to all the users on this file. So now a file cannot be downloaded to %temp% folder because there is already a file which cannot be deleted/replaced. Hence no more upgrade prompts.
I have created this solution by deeper understanding of Skype setup and upgrade.

Hope this tip will be helpful to you and let me know if it still does not work.

Re-Packaging Apple Quicktime 7.72.80.56 and later versions

Quicktime comes as an EXE file which can be extracted easily with 7Zip. The three MSI I received were AppleApplicationSupport, AppleSoftwareUpdate and Quicktime. The Apple Update MSI can be discarded if you do not want to AutoUpdate your Quicktime.

Apple Application Support MSI can be directly installed with /qb! switch.

iTunes can be packaged separately and I have created a separate post for its customization:
http://msiworld.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/re-packaging-apple-itunes-10617-and.html

Quicktime should be modified through Transform as follows:

1) Change the following properties in your MST:

 SCHEDULE_ASUW =0
  REGSRCH_DESKTOP_SHORTCUTS =0
 REBOOT=ReallySuppress

2) Install Quicktime on a test machine and do all the customizations you want with preferences. Once all customizations are complete, copy the quicktime.qtp file from "%userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Apple Computer\QuickTime\QuickTime.qtp"

Add this file to Transform in C:\ProgramData\Apple Computer\QuickTime\QuickTime.qtp.

Now add these two scripts in your package in Custom Action to run just before Install Finalize and with Condition as NOT REMOVE~="ALL"

a) This script will copy the .qtp file to all the users profile.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
'Created by Piyush Nasa
'Used to copy the config file to the current user\appdata\local directory.
on error resume next
Set oShell = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )
userprofile=oShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%USERPROFILE%")
systemdrive=oShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%SYSTEMDRIVE%")
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set afile = fso.GetFile(systemdrive & "\ProgramData\Apple Computer\QuickTime\QuickTime.qtp")
strDestination1 =userprofile & "\AppData\LocalLow\Apple Computer\QuickTime\QuickTime.qtp"

fso.CreateFolder(userprofile & "\Application Data\LocalLow\Apple Computer")
fso.CreateFolder(userprofile & "\Application Data\LocalLow\Apple Computer\QuickTime")
afile.Copy(strDestination1)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
b) This script will create the registry key for every user.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Created by Piyush Nasa
'Used to create HKCU registry to point to qtp file.
Option Explicit
Dim Temp
'HKEY_CURRENT_USER = HKCU
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = HKLM
'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT = HKCR
'HKEY_USERS = HKEY_USERS
'HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG = HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
Temp = WriteReg("HKCU\Software\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\LocalUserPreferences\FolderPath","%userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Apple Computer\QuickTime\","REG_SZ")

Function WriteReg(RegPath, Value, RegType)
       'Regtype should be "REG_SZ" for string, "REG_DWORD" for a integer,…
       '"REG_BINARY" for a binary or boolean, and "REG_EXPAND_SZ" for an expandable string
       Dim objRegistry, Key
       Set objRegistry = CreateObject("Wscript.shell")
      Key = objRegistry.RegWrite(RegPath, Value, RegType)
       WriteReg = Key
End Function
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Add any HKCU registry key in a new component placed at the highest parent Feature. Set this as a keypath. This will ensure that the application is self healed when launched by the user.

4) You will have to remove a Launch condition to check if the existing version is installed already, because I faced a problem and it was not uninstalling properly too with that condition being there. Though this step is optional.

Please note that this package works fine when deployed/installed through any deployment tool in System context as it will trigger the self heal. If you have to manually install this application then you need to add the file the LOCALAPPDATAFOLDER manually in your transform.

Hope this will expidite your packaging of Quicktime application.