Where do these sounds come from?

[micky]

Is there any clever way to tell where the sound is coming from in my
computer? If I can narrow it down to Firefox or IE, is there any
clever way to tell which tab is making the sound?

Some webpages play talk or music. Some are for the purpose of playing
talk or music, and others just do it anyhow. When I have a large
number of tabs open, it's hard to find the tab that's making sounds.

Or is there a way to turn off the sound from all of IE or all of FF,
without turning off the sound from Windows Media Player or Real. which
I want to listen to?

This has come up several times before, when music was playing that
kept me from hearing the WMP.

But right now, I'm listening to the sound of someone quietly doing
things in his/her room. Sometimes I hear footsteps, papers moving, a
drawer being pulled out, someone tapping his pipe on his palm. The
sound stops every 5 or 10 minutes for about 4 seconds and then starts
again.

I'm here alone.

When I turn off the sound from WMP the sounds are still there.

But when I turn off all the computer sound, the sound goes away.

My psychiatrist says I'm normal, well, average, well, relatively. .

IE is closed. When I control-tab through all the FFtabs, none of them
seem to be related to sound, especially not the sort of live or candid
sounds I'm hearing.

 

[micky]

There is such an option in IE (and presumably FF):
In IE, go to Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, uncheck the box "play sounds
in webpages" That should disable sounds in webpages (at least for IE).

Well, it probably works for IE but didnt' do it for FF.

I've long t hought that what they mean by Internet Options is really
Internet Explorer Options. I think this must confuse a lot of
newbies, and even some oldies.

Thanks a lot. At least I know now for IE.

 

[Paul]

Well, it probably works for IE but didnt' do it for FF.

I've long t hought that what they mean by Internet Options is really
Internet Explorer Options. I think this must confuse a lot of
newbies, and even some oldies.

Thanks a lot. At least I know now for IE.

To play sounds, would require data to be delivered over the Internet
to you on a regular basis. You'd watch the flashing network light on
your equipment, to see incoming packets. I have my networking boxes
arranged, such that I can visually monitor network access. If there
is excessive "flashing" on the LEDs, then I can look for a source
(or if it's bad enough, click the disconnect button for my ADSL
connection).

You can use a tool such as Wireshark, to log the packets as they
come into the computer or leave the computer. You can see things
like a request for a sound packet, and the sound packet that comes
back. Each packet has the IP address logged. Wireshark by default,
storea the trace in RAM, so it'll eventually exhaust all system
RAM if you let it. It has an option in the preferences, to store
the trace on disk, but I don't regularly use it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireshark

That software consists of two installations. WinPCap seems to capture
the packets from the Ethernet chip, while the main Wireshark program
provides the visual output. In View : Name Resolution, you turn on
all three items there, so you can get symbolic network addresses
if there is something interesting (like "microsoft.com" instead
of "123.23.45.67" type addresses).

So if I heard weird sounds, I saw the network light flashing,
I'd fire up Wireshark, being sure to check Name Resolution is
turned on, then do Capture : Interfaces : Start.

This doesn't always work, because it's possible to have
IP addresses without a reverse mapping. The Wireshark trace
may then show "123.23.45.67" instead, and if no tool can
give a reverse translation, it would be pretty hard to guess
who was doing it. If you have an address like "microsoft.com",
then you'd know Microsoft was doing it, and so on. Most mischievous
persons, would go to some effort to make their sound packets, untraceable.
But with some luck, you might correlate the Wireshark trace, with
the noises, and figure out from that, which web page was doing it.
If you had a Microsoft.com web page open, the Wireshark trace was
showing regular packet delivery from the same address, then you'd
correlate the two as vague proof. If the addresses show as
"123.23.45.67" instead, then it's going to be harder to trace
down who it is.

A web browser setting, if one is available, may not be absolute.
I would expect "Adobe Flash" based sound, to have separate
controls from web browser sound. It's possible to play sounds
without Adobe Flash, so there are (at least) two potential paths.
So if you thought you could knock out the annoying noise on the
first attempt, think again. There is some kind of plugin you
can use for Adobe Flash, to stop sounds, but I don't remember
the name right off hand, or know how well it works. I'm not
a big Flash user - Flash is only installed on the browser I don't
regularly use. My regular browser, has no Flash plugin, just the
way I like it.

Paul

 

[BillW50]

I don't know why other browsers don't make this just as easy? No, I too
have never stopped the sounds from a webpage within Firefox. And IE's
option to kill the webpage's sound doesn't always work and isn't easy to
navigate to. But Maxthon 3 has a bottom right button that looks like a
speaker. When clicked, this toggles the sounds to mute. Yet it doesn't
mute any sounds outside of the browser. I really *love* this feature!
And it sounds like something Micky (OP) could use.

 

[Mayayana]

| I've long t hought that what they mean by Internet Options is really
| Internet Explorer Options. I think this must confuse a lot of
| newbies, and even some oldies.
|

Exactly. Microsoft likes to pretend that IE *is*
the Internet.... and that strategy works pretty well
to fool much of the general public. I know a lot of
people who are still suspicious of any other browser,
as though only weirdo, commie geeks would consider
not using IE.

I don't see anything about sound or audio settings
in Firefox about:config. Maybe the more relevant
issue is housecleaning: Don't you think maybe it's time
to close some tabs? Why are they open if you're
not using them?

 

[BillW50]

In

I don't see anything about sound or audio settings
in Firefox about:config.

Does anybody understand 99% of the stuff in "about:config"? And why have
a configuration editor that it takes days just to find out what you are
looking for isn't there anyway?

Maybe the more relevant issue is housecleaning: Don't you think maybe
it's time to close some tabs? Why are they open if you're not using
them?

I leave tabs open that I plan on returning to. Sometimes I don't return
in hours and sometimes days. I almost never have more than 12 tabs open
though. And if anyone of them has annoying sounds that I don't want to
hear, I hit the speaker icon found on Maxthon 3 browser and it kills the
sounds from webpages.

 

[Mayayana]

| Does anybody understand 99% of the stuff in "about:config"? And why have
| a configuration editor that it takes days just to find out what you are
| looking for isn't there anyway?
|

I can't argue with that.
There's a list here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries

But the whole thing is a mess, and it was designed
in the first place for IT people adjusting Netscape
settings. People using the browser were not supposed
to understand it.

For anyone who doesn't know about this, it might be
worth looking up user.js. All Mozilla browsers store a
prefs.js file that records about:config settings. One
can create a similar user.js file that will override prefs.js.
It's still a pain in the neck, and it requires research, but
at least user.js can be backed up and reused.

 

[Mayayana]

| Considering all the revisions and updates to Mozilla, and that this is no
| longer the 1990s, why wasn't this ever put on the "to-do" list? By
"this",
| I mean making at least some of it (in being able to change some browser
| settings) easily accessible, as in IE.
|

I wouldn't call IE accessible. It's carefully designed
to scare off all but the most experienced people. The
Mozilla crowd seems to be going in the same direction.
Mozilla gets almost all their money from Google. Google
has transformed into a vast advertising company
dependent on spyware. (Their own browser has very
few settings. I don't think one can even disable script
in Chrome, short of a commandline switch at startup.)

Firefox used to have a setting to block 3rd-party images.
But many of those are Google/Doubleclick ads. The setting
is still in about:config, but the name and values have been
changed, and it's no longer an option in the program settings
at all. To me that's a clear indication of where Firefox is
going. It's only going to get worse.

 

[Nil]

Firefox used to have a setting to block 3rd-party images.
But many of those are Google/Doubleclick ads. The setting
is still in about:config, but the name and values have been
changed, and it's no longer an option in the program settings
at all. To me that's a clear indication of where Firefox is
going. It's only going to get worse.

I think you're being paranoid. I've been using Adblock for years to
block 3rd-party images. There's no need for Firefox to have it built
in.

You seem very out-of-touch with Firefox. I remember that you recently
thought that they took away all the menus, when all you need to do is
hit Alt or enable the option to always show them. I just looked at my
archive, and I see you're also the one who thinks that Windows Internet
Time function is spying on you.

Hmmmm...

 

[Don Phillipson]

I don't see anything about sound or audio settings
in Firefox about:config.

You could start with
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Video or audio does not play
Firefox Help reports 900+ hits on "sound."

 

[Char Jackson]

I think you're being paranoid. I've been using Adblock for years to
block 3rd-party images. There's no need for Firefox to have it built
in.

You seem very out-of-touch with Firefox. I remember that you recently
thought that they took away all the menus, when all you need to do is
hit Alt or enable the option to always show them. I just looked at my
archive, and I see you're also the one who thinks that Windows Internet
Time function is spying on you.

Hmmmm...

I've noticed the same things and have come to the same conclusion. I
don't think you're wrong.

 

[micky]

I don't know why other browsers don't make this just as easy? No, I too
have never stopped the sounds from a webpage within Firefox. And IE's
option to kill the webpage's sound doesn't always work and isn't easy to
navigate to. But Maxthon 3 has a bottom right button that looks like a
speaker. When clicked, this toggles the sounds to mute. Yet it doesn't
mute any sounds outside of the browser. I really *love* this feature!
And it sounds like something Micky (OP) could use.

Definitely. I never even heard of Maxthon.

 

[micky]

| I've long t hought that what they mean by Internet Options is really
| Internet Explorer Options. I think this must confuse a lot of
| newbies, and even some oldies.
|

Exactly. Microsoft likes to pretend that IE *is*
the Internet.... and that strategy works pretty well
to fool much of the general public. I know a lot of
people who are still suspicious of any other browser,
as though only weirdo, commie geeks would consider
not using IE.

I don't see anything about sound or audio settings
in Firefox about:config. Maybe the more relevant
issue is housecleaning: Don't you think maybe it's time
to close some tabs? Why are they open if you're
not using them?

Mostly, I'm not done reading them. Once I open a tab, i'm almost
always interested in everything it says, plus its subpages, even if
I've already answered the immediate question I had. But I don't have
the time to read it at the moment. Sometimes I'm not very
interested and those pages really take a lot of time to finish.
(Sometimes I close t hem without finishing them, but I don't like
that.) .

Some tabs I've never been to yet. People refer to them in newsgroup
posts, or I've opened them from a google search, but while I wait for
them to open, even if it's only 5 seconds, I read other posts or
other tabs and may not get to the new tab for hours.

 

[micky]

In

Does anybody understand 99% of the stuff in "about:config"? And why have
a configuration editor that it takes days just to find out what you are
looking for isn't there anyway?

Good question. It's slow going but googling explains them.

OTOH, IE doesn't even give you the choice of, when in a search
results page, keeping your focus on that tab while you open more than
one result, versus moving the focus to the new tab. It insists on
moving the focus.

Instead of IE catching up to FF, it seems to have stultified while FF
keep progressing.

I leave tabs open that I plan on returning to. Sometimes I don't return
in hours and sometimes days. I almost never have more than 12 tabs open
though. And if anyone of them has annoying sounds that I don't want to
hear, I hit the speaker icon found on Maxthon 3 browser and it kills the
sounds from webpages.

I willl look into that. Even if FF had the option in about:config,
it wouldn't be convenient.

When the computer was in the other room on the other floor, the radio
worked too, but in this room, the CRT monitor interferes with the FM
radio, most of the time (but not all of the time for some reason)..
So I listen on the web. So I have to have sound. (I have a narrow
LED montor, but there is no space to interchange moitors now.. :-(
)

 

[micky]

| Does anybody understand 99% of the stuff in "about:config"? And why have
| a configuration editor that it takes days just to find out what you are
| looking for isn't there anyway?
|

I can't argue with that.
There's a list here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries

This is very good. Thanks.


It seems a lot of people are not interested in this:
FTR, my biggest complaint relates to a feature that worked in version
3, but in practice hasn't worked since. Recently closed windows.

It worked great in Versoin 3, but there was a mximum number of
windows. The default was 3, but it could be increased to 150 if one
had to. Unfortunately when it crashed, it lost them all. (Maybe
since it crashes much less now, I have to check if this is still a
problem.

Why would I have to increase the number above 10, for example..
Because in version 3, if one clicked to get an enlarged picture in
Amazon, or if there was a error message box, and I closed it, it
didn't get save to the Recently Closed Windows List. But now
everything does, and there is no way to delete them from the list.

With typical main windows, those with the ability to have multiple
tabs, all that is necessary is to close all the tabs but one, open a
new tab and don't put anything in it, close the other tab, and close
the window. Then that window, wiith only one tab, a blank tab, is
totally forgotten. . But after version 3, there is no way to open a
second tab in those non-main windows. and they fill up the RCW list.

But the whole thing is a mess, and it was designed
in the first place for IT people adjusting Netscape
settings. People using the browser were not supposed
to understand it.

For anyone who doesn't know about this, it might be
worth looking up user.js. All Mozilla browsers store a
prefs.js file that records about:config settings. One
can create a similar user.js file that will override prefs.js.
It's still a pain in the neck, and it requires research, but
at least user.js can be backed up and reused.

I used to back that file up, but that was on the other computer.

 

[micky]

I wouldn't call IE accessible. It's carefully designed
to scare off all but the most experienced people. The
Mozilla crowd seems to be going in the same direction.
Mozilla gets almost all their money from Google. Google
has transformed into a vast advertising company
dependent on spyware. (Their own browser has very
few settings.

I noticed that. Who wants that?

I don't think one can even disable script

in Chrome, short of a commandline switch at startup.)

Firefox used to have a setting to block 3rd-party images.
But many of those are Google/Doubleclick ads. The setting
is still in about:config, but the name and values have been
changed, and it's no longer an option in the program settings
at all. To me that's a clear indication of where Firefox is
going. It's only going to get worse.

Hmmmm.

May I add that google search has been ruined. Sometimes it shows 4
hits in a row from the first domain, then 4 hits from some other
domain. Didn't used to do that.

Plus it gives a lot of priority to Youtube. I almost never want to
watch a video.

Plus it gives loads of priority to recent stuff. I searched for
something and got about 45 hits from different news repeaters all
quoting the very same story from 2 days ago. What I wanted was from
3 years ago.

 

[Char Jackson]

Good question. It's slow going but googling explains them.

OTOH, IE doesn't even give you the choice of, when in a search
results page, keeping your focus on that tab while you open more than
one result, versus moving the focus to the new tab. It insists on
moving the focus.

I think IE has always had the capability you say doesn't exist. If
it's not enabled by default, have you tried enabling it?

 

[Mayayana]

| > Firefox used to have a setting to block 3rd-party images.
| > But many of those are Google/Doubleclick ads. The setting
| > is still in about:config, but the name and values have been
| > changed, and it's no longer an option in the program settings
| > at all. To me that's a clear indication of where Firefox is
| > going. It's only going to get worse.
|
| I think you're being paranoid. I've been using Adblock for years to
| block 3rd-party images. There's no need for Firefox to have it built
| in.

The point was that it already was built in. They had
to make an effort to remove the setting option and to
rename the setting itself. In one very unusual move
they deactivated 3rd-party image blocking for anyone
who had been using it.

Mozilla makes over $100M/year, mostly from Google.
Yet you think it's "paranoid" to suspect they're taking
Google's interests into consideration?

They have lots of developments in the works. They're
planning a new system for silent updating:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9225235/Mozilla_will_start_Firefox_silent_updates_in_June

They're even working a system for "push notification"
from websites, which is essentially the ability for
web sites to spam you even when you're not visiting
them. (Allegedly this will only be done with permission,
but it seems unlikely that most people are going to
want to grant such permission.)

http://arstechnica.com/business/new...-web-push-notification-system-for-firefox.ars

All I'm saying is that Firefox is becoming more commercial,
and that Google has an effect on that. Personally I prefer
software that's not so overproduced and that doesn't decide
for me when to update or call home, so I have a dim view of
the direction that Mozilla is heading in. Apparently you don't
mind. Many people don't mind using Chrome, despite having
very little control over it. Either way, people have a right to
know what's going on.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Definitely. I never even heard of Maxthon.

Although many people have never heard of Maxthon, it's far and away my
favorite Browser. I like it much better than IE or Firefox.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[Char Jackson]

May I add that google search has been ruined.

Plus it gives loads of priority to recent stuff. I searched for
something and got about 45 hits from different news repeaters all
quoting the very same story from 2 days ago. What I wanted was from
3 years ago.

There are search tools in the left margin that allow you to specify a
date range. They aren't very granular, but they should help.