Videoconferencing Capabilities Already On Your PC

Yes, you really do have Videoconferencing Capabilities Already on your PC. It’s video conferencing myth buster time! You may think a little PC doesn’t have the capabilities to videoconference. Or maybe you’ve convinced yourself that video conferencing is too complex for the average person to use. Perhaps you’ve been told that it requires expensive equipment, or it’s for big business meetings only. All of these myths are dispelled as soon as you turn on your Yahoo Messenger, MSN, or AOL to talk to your friends and family. Your desktop PC is up to the task of video conferencing. Learn how to use its features, and you can video chat just like a Fortune 500 executive.

Online video conferencing can enhance your computing activities. You can chat with relatives, collaborate with your co-workers; pitch a sales presentation, and more. Plus, you can do all this without spending thousands of dollars or long hours configuring your system. In fact, setting up online video conferencing capabilities is almost as easy as programming a VCR.

Master the technology. Establish an Internet connection—whether it is a dial-up connection from home over a modem or through the network of a company. Next, plug in a video camera, microphone, and speakers, then install and configure the video conferencing software. Within a short time, you’re face to face with people around the world.

Messaging services are a rudimentary form of video conferencing. Most people have already installed one or more messenger services on their PC. Yahoo Messenger, MSN and AOL are among the most popular downloads. With these services you can chat online via text, voice, or have video conversations in real time. You can share photos, files, searches, and more instantly. Once you are signed up, you can use your unique screen name to access the service from any computer. All of these programs have web cam capabilities, which qualify them as video conferencing.

If you have a Windows operating system (from Windows 98 to Windows XP), you already have the video conferencing software. NetMeeting is a product developed by Microsoft Corporation that enables groups to teleconference using the Internet as the transmission medium. NetMeeting supports chat sessions, a whiteboard, and application sharing. It is built into Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser by default. At the release of Windows Vista Netmeeting will no longer be included, but it will be replaced by a similar application called Windows Collaboration.

NetMeeting 3 is the latest version of NetMeeting. It can easily be downloaded for free if you don’t have the default settings. NetMeeting is a bit more sophisticated than MSN Messenger because it has more features. With this program, you can video and audio conference, chat, send files in the background during a conference, share graphic information via the whiteboard, and share programs during a conference while retaining control over the way they're used.
One of the most useful things you can do with NetMeeting is hold audio and videoconferences. A special note: once you have NetMeeting, you don't need a video camera in order to receive video. More information can be found on the Microsoft Website.

You can use the chat feature to communicate with others during a conference, and use the “whisper feature” if you want to keep the text private. You can also save and archive the text from chats for future reference. The file transfer feature lets you send selected files to one participant, or all of them. You also have the option of refusing to accept any documents or files sent to you. Whiteboard is exactly what its name implies. Using this feature is like standing in front of a group, marker at the ready. Whiteboard allows you to Cut, copy and paste information from any Windows-based application. You can also load saved Whiteboard pages, enabling you to prepare information before a conference. And, in real time, you can use different-colored pointers and indicators to easily differentiate participants' comments.

With NetMeeting, you can share a program with other people--even if those people do not have that program installed on their computer. Collaboration can be accomplished as easily as if you were sitting across a desk from a co-worker. You have the options of allowing or preventing others from working on a project, or allowing just one person to work at a time. A word of caution however: if you share a Windows Explorer window or folder, you will be sharing all Explorer windows you have open. Also, once you have shared such a window, every program you start while you are still in the meeting is shared with the other participants automatically.