dunno about Skype, never used it, but have heard (don't know for sure) about all kindsa bad stuff supposedly associated with it- malware, spyware, keyloggers,autodialers, etc, that drop into your computer and bollix things up... if nothing else, they just take up your HD space and slow things down...

paranoid? who, me?
..yup.

I do know that Yahoo IM and MSN IM both work well with the webcam and a headset. ..just another alternative..

Lump