Webcam Software

Online programs and Instant Messengers (IM)

• Peekeez Looks like a good service, geared toward individuals who want to monitor their home or busyness across the Internet. Currently a free service with a pay version that will record your video for later playback
• Yahoo IM Very popular service that works pretty well and is fairly easy to install and use, however offers only small images
• AOL IM I have no experience with AOL so can not give advice on this service
• Windows Messenger Microsoft's IM program. Again I have no experience with this service
• Skype Becoming very popular, a combination webcam and phone service, free for basic use with pay options available for more features and ability to connect to non-Skype phone services

Stand-alone programs

• Windows Media Encoder Free,
  Microsoft product. Live streaming and recording only, no still captures
• Tin Cam $19.00. My current preferred program.
  Works well, but some of the menus are a bit confusing. Will run multiple cameras on same computer. Streaming available.
• VisionGS Pro $29.95 (Free limited feature version available)
  Will run multiple cameras on same computer. Streaming available. Difficult to understand much of the setup
• booruWebcam Free, a simple program which works, mostly.
  There is a bug in version 2. If you have the preview window open and try to open the Options dialogue, the program may crash. Work around may help: Close the preview window at least 15 seconds before trying to open the Options dialogue. I have tried to contact the author about this, but have received no response.
• Conquer Cam $10.00
  May need to run as administrator the first time you start it in Windows Vista and Win 7 but should run without administrator permission after that.
• SpyCam $15.00
  (Update, Dec 31, 2008) Looks like SpyCam is no longer availble. His website is gone. The software I used back in 1998 for my first camera. Still being updated but somewhat limited in flexibility
• KABcam $24.95
  A fair program with lots of options. Website says it will handle multiple cameras and see the read me file, but there is no read me file included and nothing in the help file on this. Thumbnails and email sending available.
• Fwink Free.
  Simple free program that seems to work nicely. Somewhat limited in configurations.
• Willing Webcam $29.95-49.95
  Many options available, but I found the coding to be inefficiently written. Ran slowly and difficult to understand many of the options.
• Digi Watcher $39.00
  Geared primarily for video surveillance use
• YAWcam Free, asking for donations
  Simple but very flexible, lots of options, seems to run smoothly, written in Java, single camera only.

Programs I have not used, so I can not vouch for them. I may test them if I get board, and when time permits.

• Privat-Webcam $19.00 to $69.00 depending on version
• Webcam XP $39.95 to $99.95
• Webcam DV $20.00 (Use a DV camera for your webcam