Imagine you’re working on your laptop and suddenly notice that your webcam light is flashing. Wouldn’t you like to discover and know which app uses your camera or webcam? It might be legitimate software like Skype or malware. It is therefore important that you investigate further, especially if this happens more than once! In this article, we’ll see how to find out which app is using your webcam in Windows 11/10/8/7 and how you can choose which apps can use or access your camera.
To find out which application is allowed to use your webcam in Windows 11, you must take the help of Windows settings. To do this, press Win + I to open Windows Settings and switch to Privacy and Security tongue. Here you can find a topic called Allow apps to access your camera. Under this heading, you can find all the apps that have access to the camera. If you want to block an app from using your camera, you need to enable the corresponding button to turn it off.
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What app uses the web camera
To find out which app is currently using your webcam or camera:
- Open Windows Settings
- Click on Privacy and Security
- Select the camera setting on the left side
- Here you will see the date when the webcam was last viewed.
- You will also see Currently in use displayed under the application that is currently using your webcam.
There is another way.
On your Windows computer, from the WinX menu, open Device Manager and identify your system’s webcam device. you will have to enlarge Imaging devices. On my laptop, below I see an entry Built-in webcam. Double click on it to open its properties box. Now under the Details tab view the property for Physical device object name. In my case it is Device000004a.
Right-click on it and select Copy.
Download now Process Explorer of Microsoft Sysinternals. This free portable tool tells you which program has a file, process, or directory open, as well as information regarding handles and DLL processes opened or loaded because of it.
Once the tool is open, press Ctrl + F to open its search box, and paste the copied text here and click Look for.
The tool will search all your running processes and see which of them is using this handle, and list the process here.
Once you have identified the process that is using your webcam, you can right-click on it and select Killing process. if you don’t want this tool to use the webcam.
If you suspect malware, run your antivirus software scan.
POINTE: Prevent webcam hacking attacks with Who Stalks My Cam software.
Choose which apps can use my webcam in Windows 11/10
To choose apps that can use your webcam in Windows 11Follow these steps:
- Presse Win + I to open Windows Settings.
- Go to Privacy and Security settings page on the left side.
- Discover it Allow apps to access your camera titre.
- Toggle the corresponding button to enable or disable access to the camera.
However, if you use Windows 10Follow these steps:
Using Windows 10 Settings, you can manage and choose which apps can access your webcam and use your camera. In the WinX menu, open Settings > Privacy > Camera. Here you will see the list of applications that have access to your webcam.
Here you can simply toggle the Allow apps to use my camera toggle to the Off position to deny webcam access to all apps or you can individually toggle the switch to the Off or On position to stop or allow access to your camera for each app. This way you will be able to manage which applications can use your web camera.
Nowadays, using Remote Access Technology (RAT), hackers can compromise your system and monitor you, monitor your activities and even record your actions, using your own webcam! So, if you are someone who never uses the webcam and is worried regarding being watched or watched while using it, you might want to turn off the webcam. You can of course always re-enable it at any time in the future, should the need arise.
Why is my camera being used by another app?
If you enable camera access in Windows 11 or Windows 10, any app can use the built-in or external webcam without further permission. However, you can block any particular application from using the camera on your computer. For this, you need to follow the above-mentioned steps carefully.
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