Your laptop’s webcam is a very important part when making business or group video calls , if you don’t have a smartphone at the moment. In addition, these webcam cameras were the first to hit the market before those of mobile phones.
At first it was very helpful, since through it, you could communicate with people abroad, whom you had not seen for a long time, or it was useful when you are working remotely. However, over the years, these cameras became a headache for users.
Since, many malware applications, which entered the person’s computer and used its cameras , to record the actions that people do in front of their computer; without the permission of the owner and his privacy was exposed to the public.
Now, to protect yourself from this malicious software on your computer, it is recommended that you have an antivirus on your computer , and apart from this, disable your camera, to prevent them from accessing it. So if you want to learn how you can do that action, I invite you to continue reading the following post.
Index( )
- How to prevent webcam spying?
- webcam cover
- Deactivation from the operating system
- What permissions of my webcam to limit on my laptop?
- How to disable the webcam of my laptop to avoid espionage?
- Temporarily
- Permanently
- What applications help me protect the privacy of my webcam?
- WebCam On-Off
How to prevent webcam spying?
To prevent you from being spied on by outsiders, it is important that you should not only keep your computer free of viruses, but also activate antivirus within your browser ; in this case it could be in the Google Chrome browser . Which allows you to block pages that contain malicious software, and thus prevent them from reaching your computer.
Very good, however, there are other alternatives to protect yourself from being a victim of espionage by malicious people, through your camera. Which we will mention below:
webcam cover
Webcam Cover is a kind of adhesive , which is placed on the laptop’s camera, so you can cover the laptop’s camera without having to disable the camera. Since there is a system that covers the camera of your laptop without damaging the aesthetics of your computer. Also, you can safely close it.
Deactivation from the operating system
To do this you simply have to enter your device manager, using the Windows keys + X . Following this, you should look for the device administrator option.
Later, you must locate yourself in the cameras option, when you display the menu within it, right click and click where it says disable. In this way, you will have your camera disabled and when you want to enable it, it will simply be the same procedure again and you click on enable.
Apart from this, it is not only your computer that is exposed to malicious software, as your phone can also be a victim of this type of software, so it is always recommended that you install an antivirus to avoid inconvenience.
What permissions of my webcam to limit on my laptop?
We know that the use of programs, such as those that allow you to record your computer screen , while you are in them, need the permission of your webcam to be able to perform this action.
Now, for these applications to have functions you need to have the automatic permission enabled, so that they access your camera, and to be able to disable these permissions you must perform the following step:
The first thing you should do is press the Windows + I buttons, then you will go to the option that says privacy, once you enter privacy; You are going to go to camera and you are going to disable the option to allow applications to enter directly into the camera. So the applications that need to activate your camera will ask for your permission before activating them automatically.
How to disable the webcam of my laptop to avoid espionage?
As we mentioned before, you have the option of deactivating the camera , either temporarily or permanently; which we will explain below:
Temporarily
To temporarily disable the option, you simply have to follow the steps that I mentioned above; what it is by pressing the Windows + I keys. Then, you will go to the Privacy option. Later, you click on the camera option. So you must deactivate the previously mentioned option.
So when you decide to activate this function, you simply have to follow the same steps and enable the function, without having to permanently disconnect the webcam from your computer.
permanently
Another way would be to disable your laptop’s camera, disabling the camera forever . Which consists of entering the device manager of your computer by pressing the Windows + X option. Then, you must press the Device Manager option, so you must proceed to look for the camera option.
Later, when you display this option, it will look like another, so you must right-click it , and press the option to uninstall device. In this way, your laptop will be without a camera. And when you want to use it again, you will have to download the camera drivers for your webcam, so that Windows recognizes it again.
What applications help me protect the privacy of my webcam?
Apart from the applications and methods mentioned above, there is another alternative that you can choose to avoid being spied on, which is by installing software , which we are going to explain below:
WebCam On-Off
Webcam On-off is a software that allows you to control the camera of your webcam, that is, the camera of your laptop ; activating and deactivating it when you are not using it, in this way, you can protect your camera from malware when they try to access it.