Webcams on Laptops - why?

[#1]

Which must match his handbag.      .................................................. the one he is going to hit you with 

[#2]

Oh oh - can see this being another Feeding the Ducks one - better move it to ChitChat double quick! 

[#3]

Quote from: poppy

Oh oh - can see this being another Feeding the Ducks one

I can pretty well guarantee it won't Poppy.

[#4]

Quote from: mal0z

How many average users knows about the 'Device manager'

Probably most savvy kids over 12 I'd guess?
M

[#5]

Well, even I know about Device Manager! However, my friend's two aged 12 and 14 years aren't even bothered about anti-virus let alone DM.
All they want is to click click click, talk to friends and generally play around on the computer, usually messing it all up for me to fix. 

[#6]

Think Poppy might have a point, we're going away from hobbyists to consumers... most kids just want to get on and chat to their mates.
Doesn't seem to be the great willingness to explore and learn anymore. Not like when I were a lad, I remember....

[#7]

I agree, the manufacturers of laptops get it all wrong don't they?
They put all sorts of unnecessary hardware into their laptops that some people may never use e.g.  wifi, bluetooth, card readers, dvd writers, fingerprint readers, stereo speakers etc.etc. Now they are building in webcams, where will it end? The poor consumers clearly don't know how to / care to use all these newfanged devices. We have to make the decision, either force the manufacturers to cease this untethered march into the technology ether or we just use what we need and ignore the rest like most people do.

[#8]

A bit like mobile phones ! - apart from a phone and texting tool.
camera - still and maybe video, radio, music player, .............

[#9]

Of the half dozen or so of people who I have helped, and continue to help with their PC - only one or two knows about devize manager....
I might have shown them - but they always want me to go near it.

[#10]

Santiago's right - I took a load of software off the Sony that I bought - all of it totally OTT. There are a few bits left that I am not sure about so have left.
Some of the stuff just duplicates what is already provided by the OS. One thing called a 'Gate' was like a dock and Kaspersky thought it highly suspicious.
It was a pest and took up too much room so off it went.
Have bluetooth on the Dell and I think that I must be daft because it took me ages to get it reinstalled yesterday as the drivers and software were in the folder on the C drive and not on the disk (as far as I could tell). Anyway, when I finished, I thought why did I bother? Before the reformat I only used a very few times to transfer photographs from mobile telephones.
It's far too fiddly and now I use a memory card and USB reader. I've just switched it off and taken it out of the startup menu. 
Then there's all these slots - I mean who uses anything more than a USB and CD/DVD drive?

[#11]

Quote from: mal0z

A bit like mobile phones ! - apart from a phone and texting tool.

I just got a blackberry phone, it's mindboggling. I will never understand all the things it does. However I do like  the bit that turns the phone into standby when I put it in the holster.

[#12]

Quote from: Axisofevil

I'm in the process of looking for a non-expensive(?) laptop for my offspring - but every last one seems to include a built-in webcam (I mean the laptop, not the offspring ) Why is this? Surely those who want to stare into other peoples faces can make a positive decision to buy the extra hardware? Since I'm expecting it to be loaded down with Windows 7, is it possible to put the damn thing beyond use?

Well, you don’t get why they have them because you aren’t the target audience. I can only assume you are having a joke about disabling it. Remember this Axis (before you disable a feature your kids might find really useful) it will be them who decide what home you end up in! Play nice....

[#13]

I'm definitely not the target audience
I wouldn't load a laptop with Windows 7 for a start
I'm not seriously considering physically destroying the web camera - unless I have to!
Black nail varnish (for that Goth look) would be my first choice for a cosmetic solution.
My recent experience of Windows is rather limited.
About once a fortnight I use an XP laptop to run a program or two and do it's defragmention!
Since XP has a device manager, I would imagine that this would have been made a bit more user friendly in either Vista/W7
I'm not used to having to mess with driver settings etc
Sounds like things haven't changed much.

[#14]

I would have said selecting devices, the camera, properties and the disable button was fairly easy, presumably in whatever-nix you just have to think you want the webcam disabled and it turns itself off.
Of course you could just let the kids enjoy the webcam! Christmas! Humbug!

[#15]

So no change at all! (except the windows are a bit more rounder).
Bit surprised (well not really) that there isn't any authentication against the user.