My wife has a computer at her business, that was set up by her son-in-law (Win 8 updated to 8.1).
He had a family license for Norton, so he use that as an AV.
Unknown to her... His license expired, and he diidn't renew it until a month later.
She was unprotected for most of January....
I noticed that the webcam on this computer was always on....
She let me check it...
Attempting to run "Camera", resulted in a notice that the camera was being used by another program.
A scan with Norton "repaired" 27 "risks".
I installed MBAM, a scan found over 200 "PUPs" and one baddie. I let it quarantine them all without even checking what they were.
The webcam was still on....
I installed WinPatrol, and asked her about every running process and start-up item.
She didn't recognize two entries labeled "PointGrab".
The list of programs that could be uninstalled also had two "PointGrab" entries, one was something about "Hand Gesture Control".
I uninstalled them, and the webcam light went out.
Was that some kind of spyware, or a legitimate program?
It is legitimate software but obviously isn't needed if your wife doesn't use gestures (as a computer navigation tool ;) ) . I noticed on one of the slides that ASUS includes the software program. http://www.pointgrab.com/
Close, but the computer is an Acer :)
Could it have been bundled in a free game or the like?
It's her first computer.
She actually liked Windows 8, because you don't have to know how to use a mouse.
I guess it's possible that she got it deliberately, and then forgot about it.
I hope i didn't uninstall something expensive. :(
From the Acer website PointGrab Hand Gesture Software (http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/29329/~/pointgrab-hand-gesture-software):
QuotePointGrab is software that uses your webcam to operate your All-In-One using hand gestures.
If she did use it, you can probably contact support and explain that it was removed by mistake.
I didn't see it listed in programs Acer has listed for download but there are a couple of touch tools mentioned at Acer software for Windows 8 (http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/software-windowstools) as being preloaded.