The girls are soon to be 7 months old and my son moved over to Poland before Thanksgiving. He comes back here every few months but plans to stay there until the immigration applications for his wife and babies are processed so they can all move here. He's quite the Mr. Mom now that his wife has gone back to work. Of course he has his mother in law and a twice a week nanny to help but he's falling into the routine rather effortlessly. Something about this younger generation of parents..the Mom's expecting full participation by the Dad's. Weird. I couldn't wait for my husband to go back to work after we brought the baby home.

Is Skype showing the correct built-in microphone as the one to use? In the Tools/Options/Audio Settings, under Microphone (at the top) it should show something like Internal Mic. If it doesn't that could be the problem. It's possible that Skype got set to external mic even though you don't have one. By default, I think Skype has Automatically adjust microphone settings checked. If it's unchecked, try checking it and letting Skype manage the microphone settings. If it's checked, try unchecking it and sliding the volume all the way to the right.

She, or they, can tell skype to save the history LOCALLY for as long as they want https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA392/where-can-i-find-my-conversation-history-in-skype-for-windows-desktop-and-what-can-i-do-with-it To change your history settings: Sign in to Skype. From the menu bar, select Skype > Privacy.... Below Keep history for, click the drop-down list and select the amount of time you’d like your history to be saved for. You can select forever, three months, one month, two weeks or no history. Click Save.

It works great with cable. It works great - period. You can talk in real time with excellent sound quality computer to computer, you can send files and photos while you talk to each other. You can write a short note which will be delivered the next time the recipient logs on. You can call any cell or land line phone in most places in the world for a modest fee. The fee is 10 Euros which equal $14 to $16 and gives you 10 hours of calling time. much like cell phones the money is good for 180 days but is added to new credits if you buy again. For best rtesults you need a headset, this is because if you use the old desktop mike with the speakers set back it causes lousy feedback and is useless. Mine is set so I talk into the headset but the sound is from my speakers so both my wife and I can hear the other person. Should my wife be watching the idiot box I simply plug the earphone plug in to stop the sound reaching the speakers. It is very useful when fixing a computer, with my sister in Scotland I take control of her computer while talking and explaining what I am doing. That adds a measure of comfort to nervous folks, haha. The webcam can be good but if I am here at 7a.m. in my dressing gown family members in the UK where they are 5 hours ahead of us think it is hilarious. Webcams are good for grand kids to see the grand parents and visa versa. Go for it, at the very worst you can soon remove it if you are unhappy - but you will not be dissatisfied I am sure