Should my computer make pop noises?

[ImnoGuru]

Thank you for looking at this thread.

I have just changed to a new(ish) computer. It is a Celeron 2.8 Ghz with 1/2 gig ram, running Windows XP SP3. It has an 80 Gig SATA hard drive.

Being new, I would have thought it was a clean machine.
The drive was brand new and hardly used, except on the net for finding the drivers for the sound card and a few odd bits that didn't work properly.

Now when I go to web sites I hear a pop noise when I open some web pages.

Should my computer make such a noise?

Is this pop something that Windows has as a default. 

I swapped from the other computer for just exactly the same reason. I lost faith in the fact that these noises came too frequently, thinking it may have a virus or infection somewhere.
The computer doesn't make these pops all the time or from each web page I open.

If someone could give me some guidance I would very much like to hear from you.

Thank you for your help. ImnoGuru

[Karnac]

Go to control panel>sounds and audio>sounds>select windows default sound scheme in the dropdown box ....see if that helps....you can make sound changes from here also....could also be a pop up blocker......TOOLS>popup blocker...toggle on/off ...see if it helps

[ImnoGuru]

Thanks Karnac, for your help.
I'll try that now then.

I know Windows has a default sound section, and what I'm thinking is that if it were switched on there would be multiple sounds, say during several different operations, ie: opening/closing windows, saving data, restore up/down and so on.  
I used to play with these things in my early years on computers, but long since found them distracting and annoying and thus forgot where I used to find them. (a bit like clipart stuff always loading new clipart that just took lots of space and never got used.)

If anything perhaps the popup blocker. That has better cred to me. Ok lets find out then.
Thanks again ImnoGuru.

[ImnoGuru]

Ok then, I went through the section you outlined Karnac.

I found the sound was Windows XP Balloon.wav, under the Windows default sound scheme, system notification.
However I cant find how to delete just that one sound.

If I can delete just that sound, I can save that then as a new sound scheme.

I can set up a new scheme and name that, but I cant just delete the one notification or a group of sounds, nor can I do any other variation of sounds from it, (IT being the windows default sounds).
I was trying to find out if it was indeed just that sound that I'm hearing. (Well it is that sound, it just freaks me out that it is the only sound that occurs.) I would have thought I'd hear all of them but I don't.

So am I on the right track then, or should I run something like the HJT, SAS, MBAM or some other program to check the system?

Thank you ImnoGuru.

[Karnac]

I don't know if you've been down this path....

Control panel>Sounds and Audio>Program events>system notification>use the Sounds dropdown box to change the sound to NONE>click apply>click OK...This should turn off the balloon.wav pop

If this doesn't work, then consider a malware problem......there are instances where this file corrupts.

[ImnoGuru]

Thanks Karnac, I'll give that a go, test it out for a day and see if that makes any difference.

I would think that the drive is clean really...
I haven't used it for some time and since it was new, as in brand new in the packet and sat idle for the most part, I cant really see how it would have become contaminated. (but there's always a way I suppose)

I should put AVG or some virus protection on it before doing anything else.
Many thanks Karnac ImnoGuru.

[ImnoGuru]

Ah I see the drop down box now....
I didnt realise there was another box in there to use.
I've set it to none now. so I'll test it for a day and let you know.
Thanks again. ImnoGuru.