built in webcam

[Mr P Cannop]

having probs with this as it cant find it can anyone help me with this ??

[Big Gaz]

They are normally on the screen frame at the top.....

on a serious note try refresh/reinstall/update the driver, failing that, remove it completely and then reboot. Windows should pick it up and reinstall it

[Mr P Cannop]

it still cant find it

[dx100uk]

go into device manager.

right click [my] computer from the start menu
hit manage
then device manager.
then look for imaging devices
click that
is it listed?

dx

[Mr P Cannop]

yes but it still cant find the web cam

[dx100uk]

whats the laptop please
make sure there is not a switch somewhere

'what' cant find it by the way..Skype?

dx

[Mr P Cannop]

the webcam

make of my laptop is acer windows 7

[dx100uk]

pop teamviewer on it and pm me the password and id

dx

[dx100uk]

all sorted
some virus had tried to hi-jack the webcam and It had reverted to the default windows driver

virus cleaned acer drivers re installed

[Mr P Cannop]

thanks for your help and time

[secrets in symmetry]

some virus had tried to hi-jack the webcam

That sounds nasty. Does it mean someone could be spying on us using our own webcams?

[jimbews]

Yes.
An example was shown last night on The One Show how easy it was to hack a home's wireless network if it wasn't running the highest security, and then access users' computers in the house. Including using their camera.
That example was more to do with the wireless network security: the hacking to get camera control seems to be pretty well known without getting access to a home's network.

[dx100uk]

yes!!

esp if you click on stuff you don't know where it has come from.

easiest way is to enable the built in windows firewall

and NEVER EVER use the internet where the log-in you use IS AN ADMINISTRATOR on that computer

dx

[secrets in symmetry]

Thanks guys.

I agree that surfing when logged in to an administrator account isn't a good idea, but how do you download and install software if you don't have administrator privilege on a Windows machine? (I'm a bit of an amateur with Windows, as you can see!)

[dx100uk]

under users from control panel
create a new user called admin
give it a password, make sure its an administrator account.

log off under your log-in

log in as admin.

then return to users
select 'your' account
and change it to a user with limited access

on most windows versions
when you install something
or
the system wants too
it will simply ask for the admin password.

the rule here is:
if you didn't ask to install something
and you get the po-up that you need to enter the admin password

use a search engine to check the name of the thing wanting to instal


another VERY good idea it to run

windows update from the start menu

and install aLL critical [express] updates.

dx


dx

[secrets in symmetry]

Thanks for the detailed instructions.

I make half-hearted attempts to use an unprivileged account on my trusty old XP desktop, but I tend to use my administrator account far more than I should.

[hopper.65]

that's why i keep mine covered up!