I use a Hewlett Packard Desktop computer with Windows 7 and it was purchased in Oct. 2009. I would like to install SKYPE where I could "see" my relatives in another area. They all have laptops and I "believe" the camera is built into the laptops. A few days ago I got a message in the middle of my screen saying "Web Cam is not on". Does this mean this computer already has it, OR do I need to buy that small camera (with speakers) to put on top of my monitor and then do I download the program for this ? I am unclear about this. Would I still be able to call them from my normal land line? Thanks

Did you install Skype? The message indicates that you started a program that tried to find your Web cam. But since you don't have one installed it reported it not on. You don't need speakers, I would recommend getting a USB headset with mic rather than using the web cam's mic to avoid echoing.

Another thing you can do is go to the HP website and look up your laptop and see what it came with when they sold it. That should tell you if it came with one or not. Then you can check in control panel to see if the drivers are installed. If all of that is correct then check to see if you pushed a button (usually located at the top of keyboard) that is related to your webcam and if it is turned off. If you get everything working properly I believe there is a part of skype that has a "mirror" feature where you can test it out without connecting to anyone. It just sends your signal back to you so you can see how it looks to someone else.