Error response: <br /> <b>Warning</b>: fsockopen() [<a href='function.fsockopen'>function.fsockopen</a>]: unable to connect to ssl://www.google.com:443 (Unable to find the socket transport &quot;ssl&quot; - did you forget to enable it when you configured PHP?) in <b>D:\websites\*******\wp-includes\js\tinymce\plugins\spellchecker\classes\GoogleSpell.php</b> on line <b>86</b><br /> Could not open SSL connection to google.{"id":null,"result":[],"error":null?

There is a way hot to solve it: enable the php_curl extension in your php.ini. Just delete the “;” (semicolon) in front of this line: ;extension=php_curl.dll and you’re done. WordPress will now be able to check your spelling and suggest correct alternatives!

Any problems let me know.

BTW – it has nothing to do with any other library, simply just php_curl.dll library.

Sometimes (and I don’t know why) the Skype installation enables as default the use of alternative ports – 80 and 443 to be precise. Now those ports are widely and commonly used by more than just Skype (take your localhost for instance, 443 is used for secure (https) connections). And we came across a scenario where Skype’s default settings wouldn’t enable stable connection to any remote machine runnig Windows.

The spoiler: to fix this go to: Tools > Options > Advanced > Connection > and uncheck “Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections” as of v3.6.0.248.

BTW – did you know Windows Skype doesn’t really work on Windows 2008 at all?

Update: Skype has released v3.8 several times now and even the Beta 4.0 seems to be working just fine on Windows 2008. Solved.