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Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:10 am
by Bill H
I have been through the "HijackThis" process at the Virtual Dr. forum, a very lengthy process with many scannings using quite a few different scanners, and have had my computer pronounced free of malware.

When I open either FF(3.5) or IE(7) and begin browsing all is well at first. Then the cursor begins to freeze momentarily from time to time and, less often, I will hear a double "boop-boop" sound. The first is on a rising tone and the second on a falling one. Sometimes there is only one pair of tones, sometimes two in rapid succession.

For a while there are long intervals between these behaviors, but the longer I am online the more frequent they become. Time varies, but sometimes they become so frequent that the computer becomes essentially unusable. Other times the interval remains quite long between instances.

The behavior does not stop when I close the browser, but if I leave the computer with all browsers closed, when I return to it and use applications that are not online the system is fine. When I then open a browser there is no problem for a while, sometimes quite a long while, and then the problem starts again.

I upgraded to FF 3.5 today, and the problem seems to be considerably less severe, but it is still doing it to some degree, and it worries me. Does anyone have anything to offer that might clear up this annoying mystery?

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:33 am
by Weirdan
Does the sound resembles that windows make when you connect/disconnect an USB device? Is your mouse USB connected by any chance?

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:35 am
by califdon
That's really an odd one, Bill. Can't say I've ever heard of it before. You've already taken all the steps I can think of to isolate what's causing it. Oh, how about opening your Task Manager and seeing if you can spot the Process, since it's apparently not your browser. Other than that, have you considered exorcism? I know this witch...

Don

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:35 am
by califdon
Weirdan wrote:Does the sound resembles that windows make when you connect/disconnect an USB device? Is your mouse USB connected by any chance?
Actually, that sounds like a good possibility, if it's that sound!

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:44 am
by Bill H
Yes, it does sound like that, and yes, my mouse is usb. Are we on to something?????? Are you my hero?

And, and, and, my mouse has been really "draggy" lately. Like I have to move it a long distance on the pad to get it to move a short distance on the screen.

Yikes. I'm off to buy a new mouse.

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:59 am
by califdon
Bill H wrote:Yes, it does sound like that, and yes, my mouse is usb. Are we on to something?????? Are you my hero?

And, and, and, my mouse has been really "draggy" lately. Like I have to move it a long distance on the pad to get it to move a short distance on the screen.

Yikes. I'm off to buy a new mouse.
So I can call off my witch practitioner? Let us know the results, Bill!

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:02 pm
by Weirdan
Bill H wrote:Yes, it does sound like that, and yes, my mouse is usb. Are we on to something?????? Are you my hero?
Most probably mouse cord is broken somewhere. It explains both the erratic mouse behavior and the sound you hear.

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:07 pm
by Bill H
Yep. It was the mouse. I unplugged the old mouse - that was the sound. I plugged in the new mouse - that was the other half of the sound. Not only does the new mouse not freese and not make the noise, but I had to go into the control panel and slow down the pointer speed a whole bunch in order to maintain control of it. It was flying all over the screen.

Thanks so much for the tip. You made my day. And the new mouse is cordless.

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:03 pm
by matthijs
And if it hadn't been the mouse, it could also have been some silly website with background music/sound.

Re: Something is "phoning home"?

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:28 pm
by VladSun
Bill H wrote:Yep. It was the mouse. I unplugged the old mouse - that was the sound. I plugged in the new mouse - that was the other half of the sound. Not only does the new mouse not freese and not make the noise, but I had to go into the control panel and slow down the pointer speed a whole bunch in order to maintain control of it. It was flying all over the screen.

Thanks so much for the tip. You made my day. And the new mouse is cordless.
Interesting. It's epidemic. I've just threw my old mouse because of the very same reason :)