Can you explain this noise in XP ?

[Seeker47]

It started just a few days ago, and it's driving me crazy. Not loud or particularly obnoxious, just mysteriously annoying. Every several seconds (20 ? 30 ? -- haven't timed it) there is a sound like a soap bubble popping. I think there may be a quick flash of something popping up from the System Tray, but if so it is much too fast to see. (There is nothing unusual in the regular SysTray display.) Tried a Google search on this, but so far no leads have panned out.

This happens whether or not the browser is running.

The first possibility was that it might have something to do with Windows Messenger, as there are online reports of this being hijacked for popups and spamming purposes. But I disabled Messenger by renaming its directory (suggested by some online), and this did not change anything. Another idea was a setting under "Regional and Language Options", but that wasn't it either.

It's NOT that thing concerning unused desktop icons.

I don't see anything running in Task Manager that looks like a potential culprit.

Next, I'm going to pour through the Event Logs, and run a full AV scan and spyware check, which has not been done for at least a week. In case nothing turns up there, I would welcome some Windows-savvy suggestions.

[Ai Haibara]

Do you have any USB devices connected? It sounds like it could be one of the default sounds that plays when USB devices are connected and/or disconnected. Perhaps there's something wrong with one of the connections, and it keeps disappearing/reappearing.

If you do have any USB devices connected, and they're not important, try removing them for a few moments and see if the 'popping' goes away.

It could possibly be a different piece of hardware, too. I can't recall if the event logs would show hardware connecting and disconnecting like that, though.

[jagabo]

Could be the XP Balloon sound or the Popup Blocked sound. Go to the sound controls in the Control Panel and see which sound corresponds to the one you hear. Then see what events are associated with that sound.

[lordsmurf]

Disable the help bubbles. I forget where it is.

www.annoyances.org probably has something on this.

(EDIT: site down right now? Try again later.)

[Poppa_Meth]

Could be the network connection too. I've seen the network connection drop and pick back up rapidly on a computer before and have a similar situation. That was a bad router causing that though.

Really you are down to notices or figuring out exactly what is causing the bubble to pop up.

[Seeker47]

Well, it's not a USB device issue. No apparent smoking gun in the Event Logs, either.

And I can't really see how it could be the router starting to fail: there has been no sign of any hiccup in normal online activities.

I'm wondering if there might be something (like Camtasia ?) that I could set to monitor and record the desktop for awhile. It would have to have a slo-mo frame-by-frame playback, though, if there is any hope of catching in the act whatever it is that's periodically flashing up from the vicinity of the SysTray.

[jagabo]

Shut down the programs in the System Tray one by one until the pops stop. That will tell you which one is causing them.

[Seeker47]

Shut down the programs in the System Tray one by one until the pops stop. That will tell you which one is causing them.

The System Tray has only these: Avast Antivirus, Nvidia Settings, and Local Area Connection.
I think it is coming from an area near the SysTray (to the left of it, to be precise), but not the tray itself.
That is vacant space.
Just above the SysTray there are 4 icons for these FF extensions: NoScript, RSFind, Screengrab, and Babelfish translation.

[Seeker47]

Could be the network connection too. I've seen the network connection drop and pick back up rapidly on a computer before and have a similar situation. That was a bad router causing that though.

Really you are down to notices or figuring out exactly what is causing the bubble to pop up.

Well, it's over a month later, and I'm still trying to i.d. this gremlin. Your router idea has some degree of traction, for certain reasons, though I'm thinking this could still be a red herring. The too-fast-to-read bubble error seems to be far more frequent when FireFox is running, compared to when it is not. If I unplug the ethernet cable, I think the incidence may decrease by close to 90%, although I'm not sure if it goes away completely. There have been problems with the wireless config here, but I'm sure the error-gremlin problem much predates this. I see zero glitches with internet connectivity on the wired side, which is all I currently use. There is nothing suspicious in the XP Event Logs.

I have now tried to capture this whatever-it-is with Camstudio 2.0. It came maddeningly close to working. If I'm able to upload a .JPG snap of it here, you will see in the lower right corner the partial outline of the error pop-up rectangle -- but nothing inside the rectangle was captured.
[EDIT / Never mind: attempted screen grab of the paused .AVI came out all black, but you can picture what I'm describing.] I tried this against various color backgrounds, so that if any of the type showed up it might enhance the readability. If this has any chance of working, I guess I'm going to need a better screen capture program. Next stop, Fraps.

[El Heggunte]

[EDIT / Never mind: attempted screen grab of the paused .AVI came out all black,

In MPC, menu "File", item "Save Image"

but you can picture what I'm describing.

Not sure...

[redwudz]

Kind of retro, but you could go the the 'Sounds' panel in 'Control Panels', find the sound and turn it off. You also may be able to find what program is using it there. If it's not there, then it's likely not something to do with the OS.

[jagabo]

Never mind: attempted screen grab of the paused .AVI came out all black

Open your video with VirtualDubMod. Scrub to the frame you want. Video -> Snapshot Source Frame, save as PNG.

[fritzi93]

Could be the network connection too. I've seen the network connection drop and pick back up rapidly on a computer before and have a similar situation. That was a bad router causing that though.

Really you are down to notices or figuring out exactly what is causing the bubble to pop up.

I had that problem with regard to AdobeAIR and Comcast caller I.D. Every few days I'd get the popping bubble sound, sound only, no error notification or anything, though a reboot would solve it. I should mention that AIR always wanted to update, and the update would fail, every time. Similarly, caller I.D. would drop out, then reconnect for no apparent reason, making me close the connection notification window. But the three (popping bubble sound, caller I.D. reconnect and AIR update prompts) weren't concurrent, so it took me some time to realize they were related. Finally I uninstalled both AIR and caller I.D. and never had that sound again. Caller I.D. didn't work reliably anyway.

Maybe coincidence, I dunno, but there it is.

[AlanHK]

In Control Panel, "Sounds and Multimedia", one tab is "Sounds".
That shows the sounds used by Windows to alert you to various events.
You can click on them and press the play button to hear them and identify which event is the cause.

You could simply disable that sound here if you think it's something you don't need to worry about.

If it's not one of those, then it's some application, not part of the OS.

(Procedure may be slightly different depending on your version of Windows.)

-- edit : Oops, bascially this is what Redwudz already wrote.

[Seeker47]

Could be the network connection too. I've seen the network connection drop and pick back up rapidly on a computer before and have a similar situation. That was a bad router causing that though.

Really you are down to notices or figuring out exactly what is causing the bubble to pop up.

I had that problem with regard to AdobeAIR and Comcast caller I.D. Every few days I'd get the popping bubble sound, sound only, no error notification or anything, though a reboot would solve it. I should mention that AIR always wanted to update, and the update would fail, every time.

O.K. What's Adobe AIR ? I don't have any caller I.D., and the only Adobe items I can find on this computer are Flash 10, and Adobe Active X. Flash 10 has been periodically bugging me to do an update (larger screen that does stay up until dismissed, no sound fx), which I have so far declined to do. The reason being that some other member here reported that doing that update creates an interference with some other program that I use. (Might have been with Coojah, but I no longer recall the details.)

My Search turned up around 90 WAV files that are associated with Sound in Control Panel. I did a quick survey of them, but did not find a clear match. Will do a more thorough survey -- and check out any other suggestions posted here -- as soon as I get clear of a couple looming deadlines.
Thaks to all who have contributed their ideas !

[Seeker47]

Never mind: attempted screen grab of the paused .AVI came out all black

Open your video with VirtualDubMod. Scrub to the frame you want. Video -> Snapshot Source Frame, save as PNG.

Thanks, but I did scroll through the videos (plural) that I made with Camstudio, frame by frame, and the thing I mentioned occupies all of 1 frame ! Since it is just a half-rectangle outline, with nothing showing inside of it, I don't think there is anything to capture from it, no matter how the still is made, and whether the format is JPG or PNG. Or do you think otherwise ?

If a different screen recorder program might come up with better results, I'm certainly willing to try it. (But probably not to buy it before I try it.)

[fritzi93]

AdobeAIR is required for Comcast Caller I.D. What other purpose it may serve, I don't know.

[RabidDog]

try looking under processes rsther than programs, google anything/everything and I'm sure you will find some neer-do-well lurking there. Post the List back here. You've managed to get this far without ever saying what OS you're using, if its w2k then you have

[Seeker47]

try looking under processes rsther than programs, google anything/everything and I'm sure you will find some neer-do-well lurking there. Post the List back here. You've managed to get this far without ever saying what OS you're using, if its w2k then you have

XP @SP3, up to date for hotfixes. (Except that I haven't gone beyond Net Framework 1.5.)

O.K., here's the basic Process List:
(All are .EXEs, unless otherwise indicated.)

Taskmgr.
Alg
rundll32
AvastUI
Avastsvc
jqs
Explorer
Svchost x 2 (both Local Service)
Svchost (Network Service)
Svchost x 2 (both System)
Svchost (Network Svc.)
Svchost (System)
Nvsc32
lsass
Services
Winlogon
csrss
smss
spoolsv.
System
System Idle Process

(The last two are not listed as .EXEs.)

Seems to be quite a few iterations of Svchost. Not sure if this lineup is normal, but I recall
looking up most of these awhile back -- in connection with something else -- and nothing
jumped out of the list. The anomaly was occurring with or without the browser (or other
app.s) running, although likely with a more regular frequency while FireFox is running.
Redwudz may be correct that this is not an OS thing, per se.

[jagabo]

Several instances of svchost is normal. Try killing jqs (java quick start).

[roma_turok]

Can you upload Autoruns log, ARN file?
Select in option Hide Signed Microsoft Entries and Verify Code Signature

click Refresh and save ARNlog file

zip the file and upload