Why does my camera light on my computer keep coming on?

[Windows Central Question]

Randomly my computer light will come on for a little while and then it will go off again. Like I'll be watching a video online and the camera light will just pop on sometimes it says on for a while and sometimes it goes right back off.

 

[AV2RY]

Uncle Sam is watching you

 

[jmshub]

If you are on a website that allows web chat, then your PC is possibly infected with some kind of malware. That light means that your webcam is turning on, and the camera should never turn on unless you invoke it.

It is common for malware to surreptitiously turn on your webcam. Security experts often recommend putting a piece of tape over your webcam to physically block it if your computer should somehow become infected, but that behavior sounds like the activities of someone who borders on paranoia, but I now cover my webcam lens when I am not using it. I take a Post-It note and color a corner with the glue with a Sharpie Marker, then cut that out and put it over the webcam. On my laptop, you can't even tell its there unless you are looking carefully, and if I need to use the webcam, the corner peels off without any residue.