Windows 10 - Taking pictures without permission?

GregI

GregI

GregI

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Joined
10 Dec 2007
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1,864
So I've used Windows 8.1 for years but a friend recommended 10 to me saying it was faster. Yesterday I updated and all seemed fine.

However, 20 minutes ago (approx 7:05AM) a warning bell sparked up. I'm watching a video in MPC-BE and suddenly my webcam light comes on. I'm so confused I sorta stare at it. It stays on for maybe 5-6 seconds then disappears.

The only explanation I can think is, Microsoft has something installed in 10 that allows it to take pictures at intervals for some reason... I've never been hacked in my life and stay relatively safe so doubt it's a hacker.

Is there some setting or whatever that allows them to do this? If so... wtf.
 
Had Malwarebytes day 1 of laptop purchase (Premium). Ran a anti rootkit just now, all clean.

Edit: Only thing I can think of that might have happened is the video player has a capture video function and it defaults to my webcam apparently. It might have some programming in it to check that the selected device is working... why it would do this when playing a video is besides me but oh well.
 
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The only thing to do is smash your other half's pasty in front of the webcam and if it then appears on a porn site you can be sure you have been hacked.
 
I pity the poor hacker who spends time and energy hacking into my system and only ends up with a picture of my ugly face as a result! :D

I sometimes notice some programs kick my webcam into life, but this is often because it's picking up the microphone built into the webcam rather than the headset mic (the system default). I think you've hit the nail on the head to look through the settings of any programs you're running when it happens rather then looking at Windows for the culprit.
 
If you don't tend to use the webcam you could always disable it in device manager, that should stop programs looking for / testing it.
 
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