|
As I've written before, I think Web sites that play sounds without your permission should be blown off the face of the cyber planet. It's just plain rude to play music without asking first. Almost as annoying as these odious Web sites are Windows noises that I did not ask for and don't appreciate.
When I got my new laptop, I discovered an amazingly annoying new sound has hit the desktop scene. Now whenever Internet Explorer blocks a pop-up window, you are treated to a little chirpy blippy bloopy noise. Even though you're now not annoyed by the pop-up, you get this special noise instead.
Fortunately, you can control most of the sounds on your computer. Choose Start|Settings|Control Panel and double-click the icon for Sounds and Audio Devices. In the Volume tab, you can turn off all the sound on your computer completely. I'll be honest here; lately I've been running my computer in silence a lot, which is easily done by clicking the Mute button in this tab.
If you don't want to compute in complete silence, you can click the Sounds tab to see which Windows activities have sounds associated with them. Long ago, I decided I was tired of the Windows music for start up and shut down, so when I scroll through the list, I no longer see little volume icons next to these activities.
You may find sounds associated with other software than just Windows, so this is your chance to modify your audio experience in the other applications as well. If you scroll down the list, eventually, you encounter a listing for "Blocked Pop-Up Window." When you click to select it, you see the sound associated with it in the Sounds drop down box below. If you click the little triangle button next to the sound name, you can listen to it to verify that it is the sound you want to remove. You can use the drop down list to change the action to use a different sound, or switch it to None so you can experience blissful silence when Windows blocks a pop-up.
|
