Turn off notifications, turn your webcam off, and mute your mic to stay private

While movies feel like snapshots of real life, they are a combination of hundreds of cuts and snippets edited together as best they can. 

Occasionally something will slip through the cracks in a movie, sure. But with the ability to edit, it is rare indeed for a hot mic to ruin an actor's career.

When you sneeze on your screen while on a video call, you can't edit that out (nor can you muffle it, since your computer's mute button only mutes your speakers, not your mic). There's a bit of privacy you need.

If you've ever feared you wouldn't be able to hang up a phone call or wondered if your colleagues could hear you typing during a video call, now is the time to fix it.

 Check your webcam to make sure your webcam and mic working properly when your ready to use.

• Hide the camera

In early 2016, Mark Zuckerberg made the news when he shared a picture of his laptop in Facebook's office with a piece of electrical tape covering its webcam.

 That protects your computer from prying eyes.

It is possible for you to do so or to check Amazon or eBay for a webcam cover, which offers an array of different plastic covers that can shield the camera on your computer until you need it.

 You could also close your laptop if you choose to work with an external monitor that does not have its camera and work privately.

The camera can be disabled by adjusting your privacy settings in Windows 8 or 10. 

You can either turn your camera off completely or just select specific apps to not use it. If you prefer, you can also choose to turn it on.

You can turn off the camera on macOS if you want since it doesn't have a default setting. 

If you're willing to tweak it, you can do it in your configuration profile. Or, here are a couple of apps that can help:

• OverSight for Mac

OverSight keeps an eye out for you whenever an app starts using your camera. 

When an app tries to use your camera, you'll get a notification, so you can stop it right away. As long as it is turned on by default, the camera will keep working.

Also, when you stop using the camera, OverSight sends you a notification.

• Free OverSight

Micro Snitch for Mac

Micro Snitch does even more. It notifies you when your mic or camera is being used, and even displays a popover at the bottom of your screen. 

You can even enable full notifications and sounds if you're not away.

A video/audio log is then created, so you can go back and see if something was taking advantage of your camera and mic when it shouldn't have been.

 If the app should not have been running, you can find it exactly in Finder and perhaps take it off your computer.

The App Store sells Micro Snitch for $3.99

• Put the mic on mute

Have you ever checked your phone after a long call to make sure it had hung up?

When you need to use a hot mic situation or simply cough during a call, you need to have the confidence that your computer is listening to you and not streaming audio when you don't want it to. 

Your keyboard typically has a mute button for your speakers but not the microphone.

The following will show you how to turn off your mic when you don't want it to.

You can use the mic settings on your PC

One of the easiest, most effective ways to mutes your mic is to keep your computer's mic preferences open.

If you click the Input slider on the left side of the System Preferences window in Mac OS X, you'll mute your mic until you raise the volume.

The mute button for your mic is hidden in Windows' settings screens. Select Recording Devices by right-clicking on the speaker icon in your system tray.

 Once the setting dialogue opens, select your microphone and then click Properties. There you can adjust the mute level by dragging the mic volume on the left or clicking the speaker icon on the right.

Windows also allow users to completely disable their microphone if they so choose from the General tab of their microphone settings. 

Windows won't show the microphone anymore. To enable it again, right-click on the Recording Devices pane and then select Show Disabled Devices to see the now-missing microphone, and enable it again from its settings.

What you need is an app that you can use, giving you a system tray icon or hotkey to mute your mic:

• (Mac) Shush

Want a simple way to turn your mic on and off while talking? With Shush, your microphone is activated only when you hold the fn (or any other key you set) and press the fn button. 

Once you stop pressing the button, your mic turns off instantly.

This is great if you need to remain silent for the majority of your group calls. 

The push-to-silence mode is best if you're leading the call and wish to disable your mic when you need to cough or get a drink.

 If you hold down your hotkey, your mic will be muted no matter how long you hold the button.

Having your mic mute or unmuted will also sound an alarm so you'll know it's on.

On the App Store, this app is $4.99.

Put the mic on me (Mac with Touch Bar)

Mute Me will add a mute button to your keyboard as long as your MacBook Pro has a Touch Bar. There will always be a microphone icon near your audio controls. 

Tap it to enable or disable your microphone.

The menubar works, too, by simply clicking the icon. It's not quite as simple, but it works.

The Mute Me price is free.

Want to Mute Me with a tap regardless of whether you have a MacBook Pro's Touch Bar? You can use Mute Me on any Mac by installing Touché, an app that emulates the Touch Bar.

• (Windows) MicMute

It's a good idea to add a mic icon alongside the speaker icon in your Windows system tray. Whenever it runs, MicMute mutes the microphone by default. 

It only turns on the mic when a hotkey is pressed or selected. And when your mic's on, the icon turns red to make it obvious your mic's hot. 

The mic can even be disabled and only enabled when you hold down a hotkey, much like a walkie-talkie.

If you have a dark Windows 10 taskbar, then it can be a little hard to see the mic icon. However, it is obvious once the mic is enabled.

MicroMute is available for free.

(Windows, Mac) Disable your microphone from your keyboard.

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Also, you can automate your computer with an automation app like Alfred for Mac, or AutoHotkey for Windows, which can be used for microphone mute.

On Alfred for Mac, you have two great options. Using Mic PTT enables you to set a system-wide hotkey to mute your Mac, so you could mute your Mic perhaps by pressing the F6 button.

 Although by default, it re-enables your microphone at maximum volume, you may want to adjust this in your script. A good alternative is the Alfred Shush! workflow (not to be confused with the Shush! app). 

Just type Shush in the Alfred search box to disable or enable your mic.

SoundSet in AutoHotkey integrates mic tools by default. To mute your mic, just add this hotkey to the script:

Mute the microphone; SoundSet, 1, Microphone on.

Do you prefer muting your mic from a command line? The free NirCMD app lets you do so from the Windows Command Prompt, and can assign keyboard shortcuts as well.

You can turn off notifications

That little notification pane slides on the right of the screen, notifying everyone that your Amazon order shipped, or you've booked another appointment for the same day. You're in the middle of a presentation when it happens.

You might be able to get through your work without notifications sometimes. Sometimes, they are too much information when your computer is used in public.

• You can easily turn them off.

To turn off Do Not Disturb on your Mac, simply tap on the notification icon in the top right of your menu bar and then scroll down till you see the option. When you turn it off, you won't receive any notifications for a while. 

Simply hold the option key while clicking the notification icon in the notification pane to turn notifications off in a single tap.

Do not disturb mode automatically starts on video calls with Skype, Slack, or Join when you click the Muzzle icon. But be warned, though: It can block content from their site as well, including some NSFW stuff.

Some Windows 8 and 10 users can utilize the Quiet Hours feature to disable notifications for a certain period. Simply right-click the notifications icon in your system tray, select Disable, and the software will be silent for you.

• Stay Private

Computers make the world smaller and allow us to collaborate no matter where we are. 

However, if your webcam and mic are streaming when you are unaware, they can easily give too much information.

You don't need to be paranoid. Just use these tools or use your computer's default settings and you can turn off your microphone or camera at will.

Keeping your mic and camera private is the first step to making sure you have the best tools for making calls online when you need them. 

For clear calls from any location, check out these 12 best team video conferencing apps.