After installing Pamela, the program runs alongside Skype (although I changed the default so that Skype opens when I launch Pamela). For Pamela's features to work, Skype needs to be running.

Pamela's main screen--the central communications console--felt pleasing to the eye; the vertical list of tabs, appropriately labeled, is nicely spaced out. It took a few calls, though, to familiarize myself with the horizontal bar of multiple icons and remember what some of them represented.

During testing, any time I was on a call, I liked how Pamela automatically changed my "online" Skype indicator so that other contacts could see that I was not available. That way, I could limit others from pinging me on Skype when I was already yakking to somebody else. For Pamela to change my Skype status, I needed to keep my status to "online," otherwise, the feature won't work. If you'd prefer that Pamela leave things alone, you can tweak the settings easily.

I also liked how Pamela handled incoming calls when I stepped away from my PC. It would whisk off a text message, which would pop up on my contacts' machines, letting them know that I wasn't around--and asking them to leave a message. However, in my tests, Pamela's voice-mail often didn't pick up for callees: If contacts called using audio only, then the voicemail kicked in, but if fellow-Skypers contacted me with a video call, the call rang out and then stopped.

To record Skype calls, you can start recording during a call or right before you initiate one. During beta testing, I liked how a voice prompt and a text message advised contacts that the calls would be recorded. However, this feature did not crop up in the final version, which was disappointing.