OK, so Timmy wasn't able to solve items 2 and 3 on my list but he was able to sort out making my video camera work. I said "The "on" light came on for 2 seconds when I switched on my PC then off again", he said "Ahhh" opened
Windows Movie Maker and the light came back on. Ah, no program, no light. So I have installed
Skype on my desktop PC as well as my laptop