Windows 10 - Camera & Microphone keeps muting itself or disabled (Zoom, Google Meet, Skype)

With Covid pandemic, Online meetings are now a necessity. Zoom, Google meet, Bluejeans and old world tools Skype - almost all tools can be called as essential utilities... :)

One day - during  a call (Windows 10 Pro) - suddenly the camera got disabled. When I tried to enable from the client (Zoom, Meet etc), the camera will not turn on. Similarly sometimes microphone would get disabled and would not turn on.

Steps should be same for both Windows 10 Home & Pro. Though I used them on Windows 10 Pro.

Short term fix - Go to Privacy Setting-> Camera-> Check "Camera Access for this device" is on. If not enable it. Step 2 : Enable allow apps to use camera.

Repeat the same steps for Microphone.

But,.. but.. this repeats every 10 mins. Camera or Mic will get disabled every 10 mins and I had to repeat above steps to get them enabled... yikes!

Fix that worked - 

Luckily internet with Google search helps! 

First things first - Check event log. Type Event viewer, open the app. Let it load - might take few mins (upto 15 mins maybe?)

Once loaded, on the main screen you will see Error & Warning. For me, I had quite a few warning in last 1 hours and all of them were related to Event 10016. Yes - it was the notorious DCOM permission issue and very likely with Runbroker services. Double click on 10016 and it will show the details of all occurrences with messages.

Sample Error Message:

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID 

{2593F8B9-4EAF-457C-B68A-50F6B8EA6B54}

 and APPID 

{15C20B67-12E7-4BB6-92BB-7AFF07997402}

 to the user PERSONAL\sampleuser SID (S-1-5-21-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx-xxxxx-xxx)  from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (Unavailable). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

[xxx is numbers]

How to fix -

Quite a few helpful articles exist to fix the DCOM runbroker permission issue. Do note, these will require using advanced tools . The fix did work for me!

Step 1. Try this simple step. If it works- you are in luck!

 Removed Delayed autostart for a critical windows service. Follow the link below for detailed steps

 https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/fix-event-id-10016-distributedcom-error-event-log-dcomcnfg-permissions/

Step 2: This is more involved. Follow any of these links for steps to resolve the issue

 https://appuals.com/how-to-fix-the-application-specific-permission-settings-do-not-grant-local-activation-permission-for-the-com-server-application-error/

 https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-security/event-id-10016-runtime-broker/18c291c6-f2a1-4f3c-b4ad-2b7ff59fd9f9

 https://shauncassells.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/windows-10-event-10016-fix-the-application-specific-permission-settings-do-not-grant-local-activation-permission-for-the-com-server-application-with-clsid-d63b10c5-bb46-4990-a94f-e40b9d520160-and-a/

Slight differences in details, but mostly same.

Hope it helps you with issues like occasional windows freeze or Camera and mic muting themselves, getting disabled, permission issues. 

In my case, very likely the issue got triggered after a) changing my login from local to Microsoft account or 2) Upgrading my Windows.

Backup Simplified for personal documents

Well.. its always a good practicse to keep backup of  important files, videos, photos etc... but needs some work. If you are like me, who keeps their files in certain folders and then dont have "Sync" setup.. it can  be painful. To know which files to backup , which are new modified across different folders.

Here comes Pathsync .. pretty handy tool

It can 

a. Find & Copy only missing files from Dir A to Dir B.

b. Or if you want sync both the directories.

Pretty handy for me to skip windows copy time and manual intervention for every duplicate entries.

And yes - its free for personal use.

Pathsync - http://www.cockos.com/pathsync/

3G only mode for Android - Resolved

Have a 3G data plan, but get charged by your operator when android switches to 2G? yeah, that burns a big hole in pocket...esp with the high adhoc data usage charges. Or maybe .. you are stuck with LTE and want to switch to 3G or other mode.

Anyway for me , it was the first reason - having a 3G data plan, but the operator charging heavy fess whever the network switched to the slower 2G . Talk about a rip-off and perhaps telecoms have mastered the art more than anyone else.

Anyway, luckily there is a way around and it worked for me. Before you get excited - this might NOT work on all the phones, primarily because your operator or manufacturer might have locked these settings.

Here you go :
http://siliconstation.com/how-to-force-android-only-3g/

This is the importnat extract from above link:

Access Android Testing Menu

• Go to Phone and type *#*#4636#*#*
• It will open the Android testing menu.
• There you have several category of information. Tap in phone information.
• Scroll down there and you can find set preferred network type.
• Set it to WCDMA only, same as in HSDPA USB modem.

Hope it works for you!!

Windows 7 - Making Search/Finding files Easier

Tried finding a file in Windows 7? How many time have to come across inaccurate search results or felt limited by the search options? Desktop Search is bad and ineffective , in my opinion in Windows 7.

Lol.. Win XP was rather advanced in terms of file search capability.

Feeling frustrated at my efforts to finding a file, I finally found a nifty little tool to help me get a Win XP style search.. rather an advanced version of it.

Try it out
http://download.cnet.com/SearchMyFiles-64-bit/3000-2248_4-75445352.html

This is a 64-bit version of Searchmyfiles that I used for my purpose. I am sure a 32-bit version exists too if you need.

Happy Searching!

Hide Desktop Icon - Windows 7

Do you have a cool new theme or photos on desktop that you like , but the cluttered look taking its sheen away?
Well I have a love hate relationship with those desktop icons. They are handy, but left unmanaged (as it often happens) clutters up your desktop background.. which we selected after so many google searches :)

One way to get around is to mnaully hide/Unhide desktop icons every time.

Tried a few Desktop Icon Hide & Unhide tools. Butmost of them were not working on my x64 based Win 7 system.

However, finally found a working solution and this one seems to be quite good to handle this more gracefully.

Kudos to the developer!

http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=Microsoft/AutoHideDesktopIcons