webcam as security cam?

[mjrand]

Is this possible at all? I'm going to be away from the house for 3 weeks and I'd like some way to use my quickcam to record any motion that it catches in my room/office. I have multiple filing cabinets with confidential files that unfortunately can not be locked, so I'd at least like to monitor to make sure nobody is going through my files. Is this possible at all?

 

[james1701]

Depends on your cam software. Creative's Live Cam Center has that built right in.

 

[Texun]

Absolutely! I use an old Logitech Quick Cam Pro USB that I've had for 4-5 years and it does a fine job. The software is fairly easy to set up and allows sensitivity adjustments for any motion in the camera's field of view. I haven't had a need to upgrade so I'm not sure what's available out there now, but it's probably improved by several steps in quality from the old CQ Pro.

A few words of advice: Test it before you are ready to rely on it and don't enable any notification features, especially email, unless you are comfortable with the settings and want some kind of notification or it will drive you nuts with false "alarms." Mine snaps images throughout the day as light passes in front of the window. I also have an illuminated caller ID in the room that trips the camera by lighting up when the phone rings. These are minor annoyances that I can live with.

I keep my cam hidden on a shelf among picture frames, trinkets, books, an M&M dispenser and other general stuff that no one would care to look at. If it's out in the open and you don't want it to attract attention, put a small piece of tape over the LED and it will be invisible among a room full of other gadgets.

Also, set or load the camera to start on power up and be sure to set the PC's BIOS to restart after an AC power loss.

Good luck and have a good trip!

 

[JackMDS]

LOL this can help too, http://www.mrlock.com/eshop/lo...ile_cabinet_locks.html