I've been Skyped. I don't exactly know how or why I avoided it for so long, but in little more than a 48-hour period, I've made multiple audio and video calls within the office and across the country. I've even recorded a couple of media interviews—but more on that later.

For those living under a rock, Skype is the best-known and the largely free VoIP service. Used by millions, it's an all-software solution that works with your PC and a webcam. You can call other Skype-ready PCs and, for a small fee, send and receive calls from traditional phones and cell phones. (Most recently, Skype announced iPhone and BlackBerry versions.) Most people, however, use the free version to conduct audio and video calls with friends, family, and coworkers around the world. Up until this week, I had never successfully used the service.

My history with Skype is marred by failed installs and enormous frustration with the app's intrusive nature—at least on the PC. Every time I tried to install it on one of my systems, it would slow other apps down and even cause some of them to halt. One of Skype's built-in features is its ability to collect contact info from Outlook. That should be a plus, but it usually resulted in Outlook meltdowns for me.

I decided, however, to give Skype yet another try. I recently bought my son a netbook that features a built-in webcam and comes with the Skype install files preloaded onto the system. I installed Skype and set up his account. I then decided to install it on one of my systems so that we could chat.

My first candidate was the Lenovo X300 I was using to test Windows 7. Unfortunately, the system didn't seem to have drivers for the webcam. I was going to try a different system with a Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, a nice webcam with a Carl Zeiss lens. Then I recalled my recent trip to Google, during which my head was turned by Google Chat's new videoconferencing tool. I installed it on a Lenovo T61, but I couldn't get Google Chat with Video to recognize the Logitech webcam.

I kind of gave up on video and voice over IP after that, until I got a call from the Science Channel. Some folks wanted to interview me about the Conficker worm, but instead of asking me to come into the studio, they wanted to do it over Skype. I gave a tentative "yes." That same day, an online radio show contacted me. They too wanted to interview me using Skype (just audio, though). Now I was trapped. I had to get Skype working.

I launched Skype 3.6—no, I haven't upgraded to 4.0—and then went to find someone in the office who could help me test my Skype connection. I called Internet Software Analyst Michael Muchmore—who was actually on a Skype call at the time. When he was finished, we ran a short test and connected over Skype. Initially, my video connection was spotty. Michael told me the video of me was freezing. I could see from the small light on the Logitech camera that the connection was dropping in and out. Over time, however, the connection stabilized and the image of me improved.

Later that day, I did my first, nearly hour-long audio interview over Skype. It went off without a hitch. I was really starting to enjoy using Skype and decided to take the experience to the next level. I have a family member living overseas, and I had heard that she's a frequent Skyper. So I found her account ID and then—without really considering the 6-hour-plus time difference—called her. Lucky for me, she was awake and we had a short, enjoyable call. Though not a problem, we did both notice video was a bit pixelated.—Next: Annoying Skype Quirk >