It may happen that your children or nosy colleagues turn on your personal PC without your consent, without having the opportunity to intervene (hoping that we have not even recovered the password to access your account!). If they manage to get to the desktop without problems, in order to protect our privacy and go back to the last user of the PC, it can be a good idea to program the computer webcam so that it automatically turns on when the PC is turned on and take photos of the user positioned in front of it, possibly without the snooper noticing that he has been "caught" (the webcam light will turn on anyway, but it will be the only signal in most cases).
In this guide we will show you how to use a valid program to be able to automatically activate the webcam every time you log in on your PC and capture a photo of anyone standing in front of you; the capture can also be performed in a completely invisible way, so as not to arouse suspicion.
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Install and configure program that activates the webcam
The program we recommend using to spy on unwanted uses with the webcam is WebCamImageSave, free for Windows, portable and downloadable from here -> WebCamImageSave .
Scroll down the page until you find the download link, then download the compressed archive and unpack it in a folder of your choice with a program such as 7-zip (excellent free compressed file manager).
Once unpacked we open the program by double clicking on it; no installation is required, the program will start immediately and we can immediately try integration with the webcam on the computer.
Once the test has been carried out (a window should appear showing the webcam in real time) we close everything, since this window is not useful for our purposes (you would immediately see the type of action taken, while we want to act in the shadows). Now that the program is closed, open the Windows Start menu at the bottom left and type Scheduler, so as to open the event manager to be set when the PC starts.
Open the window of this utility, we click on the right side on Create activity . A new window will open in the center, in which we will have to configure the activity to secretly start WebCamImageSave without a graphical interface (since this program supports terminal commands).
First, in the General tab, enter a name of your choice for the activity and activate the check mark on the item Run only if the user is logged in and on the Hidden button at the bottom (so as to make its execution invisible).
Now we click on the Activation tab, then on New and in the Start activity field we set the item On access ; now make sure to select the specific User item and add the account of the user we intend to monitor.
After doing this, go to the Actions tab, click on New and select Start program at the top. To add the program, click on the Browse button and indicate the executable that we have saved on the PC (we recommend hiding it between Windows programs or in a secret folder, so as not to be easily identified). Once the path of the executable has been added, let's go to the Add arguments field and insert the following string:
/ capture / LabelColor ff0000 / FontBold 1 / FontSize 16 / FontName "Arial" / Filename "c: \ images \ image% date: dd-MM-yyyy% _% time: HH-mm% .jpg"
Make sure to enter everything, without leaving anything out, then click OK .
In the Conditions tab we remove every check mark, while in the Settings tab we will have to activate the Stop existing instance item, from the drop-down menu under the item If the activity is already running, apply the following rule (very useful if we use fast Windows 10 boot or advanced hibernation, since we will be able to take photos even in these conditions). After completing the configuration, click OK .
Advanced webcam and photo configurations
If our PC has a single registered user account and does not even have the password, to adapt the program to this scenario, go to the Activation -> New tab and use this time the scenario At startup, so that the program starts as soon as Windows ends the boot sequence and start the desktop (often the photo will be taken even before it starts).
If instead we want the shots to be taken when our PC is unlocked after being put in suspension or with a screensaver block (for example at work), without going through the restart, just add a new scenario in the Activation tab (in addition to the one already seen), by clicking New again and adding this time the Unlock Workstation action, making sure to indicate the specific user to monitor.
If, on the other hand, we wanted to widen the monitoring (for example, take a picture every half hour after startup, so that we can catch even the smartest users who turn on the PC, they get up and return only after the startup procedure, unwittingly missing the first click) just change the first scenario set (just click on it and use the Modify button, in the Activation tab), inserting the check mark under Repeat activity every and setting the desired time ( 30 minutes on the computer we have configured for the occasion).
Now we click OK to confirm the changes.
Conclusions
We have just protected our account from unauthorized intruders!
Every time someone accesses the PC with our account or unlocks our locked or suspended PC, a photo will be taken (within a few seconds) via the webcam, without any dialogue or confirmation window (the only obvious sign is the the webcam light, which will turn on for about 4-5 seconds). All the photos will be saved in the folder C: \ images \ and, since we have added time conditions, each detection of the intrusion will generate a file called image with the date and time of access; in addition, by opening the image, we will have a timestamp at the bottom right for further confirmation.
If you are looking for other programs to spy on your PC, we advise you to read the guide below.
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