Howto: Use Skype For Free Remote Home Monitoring

There’s little doubt that the world is not as safe as it used to be, I don’t think most people would argue that point. And I’m not talking about a pervasive terrorist threat or rogue states, I mean security on a personal level.

So what can you do when it comes to protecting your stuff at home while you are away? Spend a lot of money on an integrated home security system monitored by a third party, or use Skype?

I know what I’d choose considering my financial position, or lack thereof! If you have ever wondered how you could put that webcam to good use, here me now! Let’s get Skype setup as a remote home monitoring solution.

It’s fairly simple really. You’ll need the following items:

1. 2 Skype accounts
2. 1 webcam (here are some Skype-compatible webcams)

And now on to the configuration.

1. You’ll need 2 Skype accounts for this to work, we’ll name them ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ for the sake of simplicity.
2. Sign in to your Home account.
3. Open your account preferences.
   • Tools -> Options (Windows)
   • Skype -> Preferences (Mac OS X)
4. Go to the Advanced preferences pane.
5. Select ‘Automatically answer incoming calls’.
6. Select ‘Start video automatically’ and ‘Only people in my contacts’.
7. Leave your Home account open at all times.
8. Position your webcam near a point of entry or be sneaky and conceal it.
9. Log in to your Away account and add your Home account to your contacts.

I would advise that you setup your Home account so that nobody can call or IM with that account. Use a difficult password and don’t publicize the existence of your account.

Now all you need to do when you are away from home and want to see what’s happening in your absence is log in to your Away account. Your Home account will automatically answer and stream the video feed. Of course you could leave this running all day if you were paranoid.

And that’s all you have to do to setup Skype as a free home monitoring solution. And you thought you needed an expensive CCTV system!