the phantom sweeper

September 5, 2007 12:15 PM

Some program on my new computer automatically makes a sound that kind of sounds like a broom sweeping every few minutes.

I can't figure out what it is. I always turn off optional sounds, and I've got the windows system sounds turned off. It doesn't seem related to anything in particular. It's one longer stroke followed by a shorter one....swiiiiiiish swish

It's not a popup ad or anything either, it happens even when Firefox is closed.

If I could mute all sounds except for what comes out of foobar I would, otherwise I'd like to track it down and STOP IT.

posted by andrewzipp to computers & internet (8 answers total)

Has it always done this, or is it a recent development? If it's new, think about what you've installed lately.

Open your task manager and see what programs are running. It has to be one of the programs in the list. Go through and eliminate them one by one until you find the culprit.
posted by chrisamiller at 12:20 PM on September 5, 2007

Mac or Windows?
posted by doctor_negative at 12:24 PM on September 5, 2007

New computer, you say? What kind? Has it made the sound since the day you got it?
posted by iconomy at 12:25 PM on September 5, 2007

Sounds like that damned windows search cat. That bugged me for years.
posted by cashman at 12:28 PM on September 5, 2007

XP makes that kind of noise out of the box when you maximize/minimize, drove me insane!

You can turn it off under Sounds in Control Panel.
posted by mattdini at 12:28 PM on September 5, 2007

Its the windows search animal. Probably the dog. Close the window with the dog in it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:30 PM on September 5, 2007

I bet that's it. I've turned the dog off permanently now (by clicking on the character and then opting to do without). That makes sense too, since it didn't do it all the time. THANKS!
posted by andrewzipp at 12:38 PM on September 5, 2007

Search dog strikes again!

That stupid dog has a lot to answer for. It puzzled me for ages too.
posted by wannalol at 3:02 PM on September 5, 2007