Sunton848. Thanks for the input. I have to say I had not gone into privacy etc., but had a look. I found nothing to suggest things had been turned off, but cycled a couple of switches while I was there. I then plugged in my old Microsoft camera and the drive light indicators (a nifty little software program) lit up C through F. They were very busy.
While in MS site, I happened to notice the new camera my son purchased for me was really expensive. £89. I had no idea. It too made the discs very busy, but not for so long.
I went to Skype and this time tried the echo test thing. Suddenly I was on the screen! Okay, so I'm now not at all sure what kick-started the thing back into life, but without your post I'd have probably let a year or two go by without bothering. I give up easily these days but I had tried both cameras several times.
Device manager is now showing "imaging devices" once more. I lost it while trying this and that in December. That's when I gave up. A sub-directory of that shows the Microsoft Life Cam - the last plugged in. So maybe MS has done a fix, or maybe opening the Settings Privacy triggered something. But I'm back in business. Thanks.
Now all I want is for may American grandchildren to Skype.
IBMJunkman I didn't know about it, but the gist I got was that a fast start option acts a little like a mini-Hybernate with much less stored. It sounded plausible, but I've been left way behind in the computer world these days so don't know.