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Why does my computer shout at me?

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Summary: Windows has many sounds all of which are tied to specific events. Random sounds, including the computer shouting your name at you, is a mystery.

Mystery virus? I've not been able to narrow down what triggers this annoying virus, so I come to you before I pull my last hair out. I believe it has evolved a little too! Several times a day, for no apparent reason, my PC yells at me. For a year, it was an odd dog bark. It changed to a rooster crow and now it shout my NAME as loud as it can.

I run AVG and AVS and recently installed Comodo. I've scanned with Spydoctor, Norton AV, McAfee and some online scanners...everything I could. When any of them finds something, I clean it out and rescan. Even when nothing is found, the screaming continues. I often scan floppies, yet 2 other systems have the same problem.

I was all ready to suggest that perhaps Windows was generating a warning pop up and what you were hearing was the accompanying alert sound.

Up until you indicated that your computer is calling you by name, that is.

I'm actually hoping that my readers can come up with some other plausible suggestions, but I can think of only one explanation.

I think someone's having some fun with you, at your expense.

And by someone, I mean someone you know who has access, direct or indirect, to your computers.

It actually wouldn't be that hard to make a computer act this way. In fact, I've considered it as a prank in the past, but thought the better of it. I'd write a small program or script that simply played a audio file at random times during the day. That audio file could be a dog barking, a rooster crowing, or someone yelling a name. Or worse.

The problem in your situation, and the reason I think it's intentional, is that I'm not aware of any viruses or spyware that actually do this.

Another alternative, though still along the lines of a prank, would be someone replacing one of the system notification sounds with a sound of their own. So perhaps the sound happens when Windows notifies you of something, but it's a sound that your prankster has provided rather than the Windows original.

Yet another alternative might be a web site that does the same thing - perhaps when you visit it plays random sounds, one of which might be your name.

In your shoes I would:

  • Take note of what programs are running, or what websites are displayed, when the sound occurs. Look for something in common.

  • Review all the sound files in c:\Windows\Media, and make sure that they're not what you've been hearing.

  • Review the sound settings in Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices, Sounds, Program Events, and make sure they're not what you've been hearing.

And lastly, I'd take a close listen to the sound of your name, and see if it sounds like anyone you know.

I'm hoping some of my regular readers will have additional ideas. If you do, please add them as a comment.

Related:

Article 11907 | Posted October 14, 2007

Recent Comments
0 Comments

lol... It's so easy to do stuff like this.. If you notice, most people use there login name for there windows account. It wouldn't be too much of a challenge to read the name from the registry and have one of the windows artificial voices, read it out loud at a given interval..

I've seen people also bind audio to keyboard keys, so when they press, say the letter 'd', it makes a "mooooo" sound.. Check your running processes using ctrl+alt+delete (task manager). If something looks fishy and is NOT under System, end task it and see if it helps. From that point, you can go about removing the file/directory from at least the booting process or your hard drive.

Posted by: Chris at October 19, 2007 9:28 PM

Sysinternals autoruns...

Posted by: Hugh at October 20, 2007 2:09 AM

Obviously it is probably some application doing this. Everyone is thinking in terms of a virus or malware. It may even be one that is NOT a joke or malware. I know that incredimail does annoying stuff like that all the time. Unfortunately we don't know what software is installed, but there are so many little apps that people use that do really annoying things like this. I had a caller to my radio show a couple years ago ask why his computer would "moo" every once in awhile. (My joke back was that his Dell thought it was a Gateway.) Turned out it was the sound that incredimail used to inform him he had new mail.

There's no way to pin this one down without knowing what's installed first.

Posted by: TechTAK at October 20, 2007 3:40 AM

Why does my computer shout at me? Leo, maybe the reader has a program like AOL IM that has sounds associated with people comming and going? Just a thought.

Mike Malloy
[Email Address Removed]

Posted by: Michael Malloy at October 20, 2007 7:02 AM

i don't know, i had the rooster crowing too. it went away all of a sudden. baffled me!

Posted by: gee at October 20, 2007 8:21 AM

I thought maybe it is not from the computer but from his own mind. That was my first thought I am afraid.
But then being of the nursing persuasion and not the technical persuasion - maybe that's why....I thought that. Sorry, don't mean to offend.

Posted by: angel at October 21, 2007 9:58 AM

My previous computer would also, at random, start playing the trumpet notes you hear at the beginning of a horse race! It would be louder than my speakers were normally set for, and there was never anything visual on my computer. I offer no solution, just letting you know there is one more person out there with that annoying problem.

Posted by: Mark Nicholas at October 21, 2007 11:47 AM

Well it may not be the same thing but i had my old computer programed to said: Good Morning Rebecca and good evening etc. Well it got a glich one time i dont know if it was a virus or not but it would say my name when ever i would which between programs like from yahoo to MSN and other times scared me one night lol, Needless to say i disabled it.

Posted by: Becky Garrett at October 22, 2007 12:19 AM

I too have a shouting problem. No one at work believed me until they actually heard my computer shout "give me some money" randomly. There was never a pattern or a similar group of programs open that I could figure out. I've since left that job and laptop behind and NOW MY BRAND NEW HOME LAPTOP is shouting the same thing. My assumption is that this must be from AIM or Messenger OR from a random file that has a virus. The thing is, the two laptops never crossed paths. This one is a tough one for me as I often need sound on during presentations and it randomly statrs shouting - give me some money. Too bizarre.

Posted by: hapiday at January 21, 2008 8:33 AM

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

My assumption is the same as yours: some kind of virus or,
as in the article, someone you know playing with your head.
:-)

Leo


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Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at January 22, 2008 5:46 PM

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