Screen share privacy, explained
An interview assistant the screen share can't see
Interview Assistant shows suggested answers in a small window on your desktop. Windows itself leaves that window out of anything that captures the screen, so the people on the call see your shared screen without it. This page covers how that works, where it stops, and how to confirm it on your own PC.
What you see, and what they see
- 01The meeting window
- 02Your editor, slides or notes
- 03The Interview Assistant window, with the transcript and a suggested answer
- 01The meeting window
- 02Your editor, slides or notes
- 03Whatever is behind the Interview Assistant window, as if it were closed
Windows does the hiding, not the meeting app
Every window on Windows can carry a display-affinity setting. When the Interview Assistant window first appears, it sets that value to WDA_EXCLUDEFROMCAPTURE. From then on, Windows still draws the window on your monitor but leaves it out of every frame it hands to a program that asks for a picture of the screen.
Because the rule sits underneath the meeting software, it doesn't depend on which app is doing the capturing. Zoom, Teams, Meet in a browser, Webex and screenshot tools all receive the same frames, with the window already missing.
On Windows 11, and on Windows 10 from version 2004, the window is removed from the capture entirely. Earlier Windows 10 builds treat the setting differently and show a black rectangle where the window is, which anyone watching would notice. Type winver into the Start menu to see which version you have.
What it can't hide
Leaving a window out of screen capture is one specific protection. It helps to know exactly where it ends.
A camera aimed at your screen
The exclusion covers software capture only. A phone, an external webcam or someone in the room sees your monitor exactly as you do.
Taskbar and tray icons
While the window is open it has a taskbar button, and a full-screen share includes the taskbar. Ctrl+Shift+H hides the window and its button together. The tray icon remains, so drag it into the hidden-icons overflow.
Where your eyes go
If you read a long answer word for word, your webcam shows it. The one-line and bullet formats take a glance rather than a read.
The running program
Interview Assistant is an ordinary Windows process. Anything that lists running programs, from Task Manager to some proctoring software, can see it.
Check it yourself before the interview
Five minutes, one spare device. Do it on the PC and the meeting app you'll actually use.
- 1Start a call with yourself: a Zoom or Meet meeting joined from a second device, such as your phone, is enough.
- 2Open Interview Assistant on your PC and share your entire screen rather than a single window. It is the stricter test.
- 3Look at the share on the second device. Where the window sits on your monitor, you should see whatever is underneath it.
- 4Press Win+Shift+S and take a screenshot. The window should be missing from that too.
- 5If a black rectangle appears instead, your Windows 10 build is older than version 2004. Update Windows and test again.
Keys that keep it out of your way
Want to know how quickly answers arrive once the window is hidden from view? See how a question becomes an answer in real time, or the coding interview guide.