Tips to Disable Integrated Webcam in Windows 10

Beware laptop and PC users as hackers are on the prowl! It is a misconception that only email accounts can be hacked. Almost everything on your laptop or PC comes under threat if some hacker manages to get access to your system. This problem arises with new Operating Systems like Windows 8 or Windows 10 as users do not know plenty of things related to them. In fact, a bigger threat is if your integrated webcam security gets breached. You would not even know that someone else is watching you through the in-built webcam of Windows 10 or Windows 8 platform, while you work away on your laptop.
In such circumstances, not only is your laptop / PC data under threat, but also your privacy at home or office. The very thought of your physical activities being watched by an intruder is scary! Hence, it is important to keep the webcam secured and even turn the webcam off or disable it (when it is not required).
An easier way out for many laptop users is to cover the webcam with some cloth so that even when it gets hacked, no one is able to see you. However, this method is not completely reliable and one needs to follow some basic tips to ensure security of your laptop webcam in Windows 10 or similar Windows OS versions. For starters, you need to have a good firewall installed on your system and enable full-proof antivirus protection and anti-malware protection. Next, make sure that your wireless internet connection is secured with a strong password. Additionally, you need to take basic precautions like not opening attachments from unknown email senders or downloading music / video files from unknown sources.
However, none of the above discussed methods to keep webcam secured is completely full-proof. Also, there might be the case of your kids using your laptop sometimes and you worried about them shooting any private videos or photos unknowingly. To feel absolutely safe as far as your integrated webcam security is concerned, you might want to turn it off. In other words, check out ways by which you can disable integrated webcam in Windows 10 (or Windows 8.1). Through this article, my attempt is to share the tricks for deactivating laptop webcam in Windows 10 OS.

How to Disable Integrated Webcam of Laptop for Windows 10

1. Press Win + R from the Windows desktop.

2. In the ‘Run’ command pop-up that appears, type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter.

3. The Device Manager of your Windows OS will open up.

4. Under this Device Manager window, you need to click on ‘Imaging devices’ option to expand it. You would see the integrated webcam option on which you need to right-click.

5. Click ‘Disable’ to turn off the webcam in Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 (whichever is your OS).
As seen above, it is extremely easy to disable the webcam from Device Manager of your system. You can even go to the Device Manager directly from the Control Panel. This method will work 100% and the best part is you can always re-activate your laptop webcam again by right clicking on the webcam name under “Imaging devices” and selecting the “Enable” option.
Thus, you can secure your webcam usage completely as per your needs and turn it ON only when you need it. However, this trick may or may not work for external webcam. So, if you have integrated webcam, then, you can simply follow the above tutorial for disabling integrated laptop webcam. These steps should work for most recent versions of Windows OS like Windows 8, Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Please feel free to share your experience of ensuring security for your laptop webcam.