Webcam Center appears out of nowhere

Hello everyone,

Recently, everytime I log on to my computer, the blue light on my 1520's webcam turns on briefly and the Dell Webcam SETTINGS pops up (not the actual window where you see yourself, but where you can change all the cool effects). This didn't use to happen and I didn't make any huge software or hardware changes. I have Vista Home Premium. AIM is set to start up on Windows start up and I don't know if it's checking for a webcam or not. However, I have retained the same AIM settings forever now, so I don't think AIM is the culprit.

Has this happened to anyone else and do you know how to fix it so that the webcam does not just turn itself on and off at startup? Usually the computer would check for a webcam during the BIOS POST testing and loading of the drivers and such before Windows boots fully (before the logon screen).

PS: I just changed my Vista Sidebar gadgets. I added the utorrent gadget and the Network Meter, but everything else remained the same.

Thanks!

 

What all do you have in the Startup folder?

 

In my startup folder located at:

C:\Users\USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

I have nothing at all. I tried unhiding all files, but there was nothing in there. But my computer does start up normally (apart from the webcam thing).

 

Try opening the Dell camera settings window, then tell it to stop popping up when the camera turns on. You would then have to open it manually when you want to change settings, but that should stop that nonsense. You could also try reinstalling the drivers from Dell.

 

Thanks Dafrety,

I kind of do like the settings popping up when I use the webcam, so I'll leave that for now (unless it gets too annoying). I'll try reinstalling the drivers though and report back on how everything went.