Talk To Me About Zoom

Discussion in 'Gadgets & Tech Talk' started by Boris Boddenov, Mar 13, 2021.

  1. Boris Boddenov

    Boris Boddenov Very Well-Known Member
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    High school class is having a ZOOM meeting. I guess this is some sort of video conferencing experience. What is needed?

    I'd reach out to them but don't want them to know I'm still stuck in 1962.
    ________________

    Update: Subsequently learned about what is required in other forums.

    And responded....

    Thanks to one-and-all. I have a desktop but no webcam much less a microphone. I thought it was just something I could view and hear, in other words, lurk.
     
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  2. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Are you sure that there is not a camera and microphone built in to your desktop, @Boris Boddenov ? Unless your computer is beyond ancient, most of them nowadays have both as part of the computer. At least that is what ours have. Bobby has an older (2012 ?) iMac and I have an older DellXPS18, and both of them have a built in camera and microphone, as well as speakers.
     
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  3. Boris Boddenov

    Boris Boddenov Very Well-Known Member
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    I'm not aware of any mike or camera. The PC was bought new after 2015, a Lenovo. The two speakers are separate pieces of hardware.

    Thanx for the heads up. I'll dig into it
     
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  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Here is a short tutorial about using a Lenovo for video conferencing. It might be different on different models, but theirs should give you a start on what to look for.
    On my Dell, you can see a little dot at the center top, and that is the camera. On my iPad, it is located on the left side, but would be on top if I was using portrait mode.

     
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  5. Boris Boddenov

    Boris Boddenov Very Well-Known Member
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    @Yvonne Smith

    Thanx Yvonne for your help. I wasn't aware such devices were inside PCs. At another forum, they all said I had to get a web cam and mike.
     
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  6. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Well, now you know why THIS is the very best senior’s forum in the whole world ! !
     
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  7. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    I didn't know how Zoom worked either but Tuesday of this week
    my gandson was interviewed and excepted by a university,
    and it was done on Zoom.
     
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  8. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    My wife's laptop has both built-in camera and mic, but it was bought in Nov. 2019. Our desktop was bought in 2016 and we had to get both speakers (that plug into outlet and back of tower) and a web cam (that plugs into the back of the tower and sits on top of the monitor). So, IOW, the desktop didn't come with either built-in.
     
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  9. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Wife and I have had our last couple of doctor appointments using web cam and speakers. She has also been interviewed on Zoom for jobs. We've had a few family Zoom meetings that were very cool, but again, have to have both web cam and speakers either built-in or bought-installed on a computer.

    On an iPhone, you can have the Zoom App installed on our phone and do Zoom that way as well. My SIL knows very little about computers, so when we have a "family Zoom" get-together, she will use her iPhone.
     
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  10. Boris Boddenov

    Boris Boddenov Very Well-Known Member
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    Hear, Hear!

    Can I get an Amen from the audience???
     
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  11. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Zoom is another app owned mostly by the Chinese, a little like TikTok, and is another way they are profiting from the virus they released on the world. Our desktop does not have a camera or a mike, but laptop, tablet and phones do. It is by design. I don't like cameras except for family chats. I put a Band-Aid over the camera when I use the laptop or tablet, but not a practical thing to do on the phone. Wife uses Zoom and I showed her how to send invitations for her meetings, but I don't use it. We use Facetime or video chat for family stuff, and they are intrusive enough.
     
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  12. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We only use FaceTime for family visits with my kids; but when I do surveys, sometimes they also do online interviews, so I had to put the Zoom app on my iPad.
    Occasionally, they require that you use an actual computer, so then I use the (unloved and unused) Dell desktop when it is the only option possible.
     
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  13. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    We aren't that "private", so we don't worry about intrusiveness by someone. We buy things online and do other things online.

    We have Facetime on our iPhones, but only one person we know, has it.
     
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  14. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I am just the opposite, @Yvonne Smith. I always prefer the desktop, but use the other stuff when needed. We bought the laptop for use while travelling, but haven't travelled for a while, so it has been idle except when being "Zoomed", or for the occasional reference work.
     
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  15. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I put a band aid over the camera on my laptop the day I bought it, and it's been there since.

    While I've not heard of regular folks having an issue, there was a public school system in Pennsylvania that gave laptops to the students, and it was later discovered that some of the cameras had been turned on remotely by someone with the school.

    Nice, huh?
     
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