A while back I wrote a post explaining how hackers are using rogue apps and other forms of malware to spy on folks via their computers’ webcams.
That post also explains how to prevent it from happening.
As it turns out, some miscreants have been spying on us via our machines’ microphones as well. And in some ways that’s just as bad as having them spy on us via webcam.
Recognizing the threat, Microsoft added a setting to the latest builds of Window 10 and all versions of Windows 11 to prevent rogue apps (and Windows itself) from stealthily eavesdropping on you by listening in on your conversations.
If you’re concerned about your private conversations potentially being leaked to the world, you can easily prevent Windows and any apps that are installed on your PC from accessing the microphone at all. Just follow the steps below for your Windows version.
Windows 10:
1 – Click the Start button.
2 – Type the words microphone access.
3 – Select Turn off microphone access systemwide from the list of search results.
4 – Click the Change button that’s located under “Microphone access to this device is on”, then toggle the setting to Off.
Windows 11:
1 – Click the Start button.
2 – Type the words microphone access.
3 – Select Turn off microphone access systemwide from the list of search results.
4 – In the right-hand pane, toggle the “Microphone access” setting to Off (the slider should turn gray).
That’s all there is to it. From now on your machine’s Windows installation won’t be allowed to access your PC’s microphone, and neither will any malware or malicious apps.
On the occasions when you do need to use your microphone you can temporarily re-enable it by repeating the steps above and toggling the option back to On.
Bonus tip: One way to help ensure that no rogue apps are installed on your PC is to keep it free of malware. This post explains how.