I'm not talking about the Windows audio that gives us... la tunes-- I mean the system sounds that give us... la tedium. You know the ones I mean... You boot to the Desktop, there is sound. You click a Start Menu item, there is sound... You get an error, there's a sound for that too... You shut down Windows XP, and a sound will bid you farewell. Sure they're amusing, at least at the start. But everything gets old, and Windows XP's system event sounds age fastest of all. They end up being just one more thing Windows XP has to do, when it could be doing something more important. Meanwhile, you're working away, irritated for reasons you can't quite put your finger on, thinking you hate your computer, yet not sure exactly why. It could be the Windows sounds... they've worked their way under your skin and you want to kill something or somebody. Kill the sounds first, then see how you feel after that.
I disabled them all, and the air is less polluted for it:
Remember, this doesn't disable your audio... All your music (MP3s, WAVs, WMAs, MIDIs etc) will play as always.
- Start Menu / Control Panel / Sounds and Audio Devices
- Sounds tab / Sound scheme = No Sounds / click Apply / then OK
Some links on Windows XP audio:
- Resources for Troubleshooting Sound Problems in Windows XP (Microsoft)
- XP and Audio (article at Electronic Musician)
- (MusicXP) Tuning Windows XP for Audio-Music Applications
