In mid-March after people were encouraged to stay at home, Zoom became a popular platform to hold online meetings. But shortly thereafter, security researchers and pranksters found flaws in the platform. Fortunately Zoom acted quickly to fix security and privacy vulnerabilities, and change default settings to help prevent
"
Zoombombing
"
from unwanted participants. Therefore, Zoom is now safe while remaining easy to use.
To participate in a Zoom meeting, you'll need a camera and microphone - which is included in all modern laptop computers and smartphones. If you only have a desktop computer, a separate webcam is needed to participate in the meeting so others can hear and see you (optionally). Unfortunately webcams are currently in short supply, and online sellers have been charging 2-5 times the normal ~$50 average price of a webcam.
If you only want to view and listen to the meeting (and not participate), you can use Zoom on a desktop computer without a webcam.
You don't need to have or create a Zoom account in order to participate in a meeting. Therefore there's no login or password information to remember, or have the chance of it
being discovered due to a data breach
. Accounts are only required for people that host a meeting and invite participants.
Do you need help connecting with others at a distance? We can help with most online meeting platforms like
Zoom, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, Google Duo and Hangouts, Microsoft Teams and Skype, Apple's FaceTime, etc...