Vista Startup Sound to be Mandatory? 865
Toreo asesino writes "There has been lots of debate in the past few days over Microsoft's plan to make the startup sound in Windows Vista something that can't be specifically silenced by changing the sound settings in the control panel. Users would be able to avoid hearing it by manually turning down the speaker volume, but then they would have to turn that volume back up to hear anything else."
Broadcasters will object (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Copying the Mac again... (Score:4, Informative)
Only if you haven't muted audio. If you mute the audio output and then reboot (or shutdown and then power on), you won't hear the power-on chime.
Re:Copying the Mac again... (Score:5, Informative)
Turn down your sound (in the OS X volume control), or mute your speakers.
Restart.
Tada! No startup sound.
There are also applications and Applescripts that will do it automatically for you:
http://alphaomega.software.free.fr/startupchimest
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2003
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16780 [macupdate.com]
By the way, the Apple startup sound is more akin to the PC Bios Boot-Beep. It's a hardware test, and it will play a different sound if there is a video card failure or ram failure, something which prevents the system from reaching the GUI.
Re:Uh, Macs? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:5, Informative)
But then again, with OSX it isn't possible to disable the startup sound either (or so I've heard) so if people would make a fuss about this, then why not continue at apple?
"Did you know (Score:2, Informative)
Ill bet nobody knew the Mac has one. Just in case that hasn't been beaten to death already.
Re:Copying the Mac again... (Score:2, Informative)
#man nvram
Of course to actually change something (e.g. a bootup OF password) you technically need to become root.
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
I rarely shut down my MacBook Pro or the Powerbook I used before that - I just put it to sleep by closing the lid and open the lid the next time I want to use it.
I only have to restart because of the occasional system software update that requires a restart. Otherwise I'm golden.
Re:Bottom line (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Apple does the same thing (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Copying the Mac again... (Score:5, Informative)
It follows the software volume setting from when you turned off your Mac.
You can also mute it by holding F3 while booting your Mac, which on any Apple keyboard has the "mute speaker" icon, which is also how you mute the speaker in software.
There are also many free utilities that can disable it for you.
I suppose using Google to search for "mac startup sound mute" and hitting I'm feeling lucky was too hard. The result is pretty clear....
http://homepage.mac.com/geerlingguy/mac_support/m
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Obvious Answer (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Broadcasters will object (Score:4, Informative)
The sound can't be disabled because that's the whole point of having the automation software in the first place.
Any bleeps or bloops or Windows logo noises will get picked up and passed along with the program material and broadcast to the five people still listening to broadcast radio. Who the hell wants to hear Windows sound effects on their radio? All that stuff has to be turned off or killed or deleted or something, leaving a pure program audio feed on the line-out.
The same goes for offline audio workstations, such as one I have in my home. The boot noise is not so much an issue for me, but I can't have sound effect-equipped dialog boxes ruining my work. Right now, this is easy to deal with in XP.
If Vista makes this impossible, then they've just closed the upgrade door on themselves. What I do now in XP, I can also do in linux and I will make that move if I have to do that to get the recordings I need. Honestly, XP Pro works so well for me right now, I can't see any reason to move to Vista.
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
My laptop is permanently muted anyway; who the hell listens to sounds coming out of your laptop speakers? Sounds like arse. And even when the headphones are plugged in, you still get major interference from the integrated sound chip.
Re:How to turn it off.. (Score:5, Informative)
In some cases, the fix is to simply delete the dllcache version - if what you're trying to do is delete the file. But there's also an added level of hackery for a subset of these protected files, because they're also redundantly backed up in a
So for files that are protected with this extra level, no, it's not really possible to change them via hex editor. I know that there used to be hacks in 2000 to disable WFP. I also know that in 2002, Microsoft did not have the expertise, in house, to answer a developer support question on WFP behavior (for a developer of BACKUP software - ie. "what happens if I restore the system to a previous version via backup software? - answer: nasty stuff. Which is why imaging software became a very popular way of backup and restore windows desktops).
No - I know that guys like Marc Russinovich probably have a much better understanding of how WFP works. But this is my understanding after having to deal with it. Frankly, in the past few years, when I've had to remove spyware and malware from systems, there's an eerie resemblance in self-protection techniques between WFP and malware.
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
The volume control is three separate buttons, and they work immediately even while it's booting (shutdown unmuted, push mute on the IBM logo screen during POST, and it boots muted). Same with the Fn keys which adjust the LCD contrast and etc.
Also, the speakers on it actually sound pretty good (no bass, but very clear). They're in front of the keyboard, but they're actually under the very front edge of the case pointed at an angle at the table; the effect is, when it's on a table, you hear it even better. It still sounds nice and clear on other surfaces too, including your lap. They're good enough for playing games, as well as most music IMHO.
Re:Copying the Mac again... (Score:3, Informative)
Create a new text file called test.txt, or whatever. Put it somewhere. Put some unique text in the file. Use the search feature to search inside of files for that bit of text. It finds it. Now, rename that file to test.java, or anything with a
Not broken.
File searches in XP are done with file-type handlers. This is actually a pretty neat idea because it allows users to search for content in specially-formatted, or even binary files, because a DLL is handling the search. Programs register their handlers when the user installs them.
Windows ships with a generic plain-text handler, but it only knows about a limited number of file types (file extensions). By adding additional file extensions to a specific registry key you can tell this handler to work with any other kind of file (java, cs, css, whatever). The only negative is that there is no simple GUI to get it done, though there are some WSH scrips available [petri.co.il] to do it for you. Alternatively you can configure the indexing service to index all file types, not just ones it knows about and this does have a GUI.
If you qualify a bug like this as meaning the software is broken, then it's unlikely you'll find any software that isn't.
Re:Uh, Macs? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Paying the Ultimate Price. (Score:1, Informative)
From http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/docs/HOWTO/Advoca cy [ibiblio.org]
Is this the Robert Fripp sound? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:1, Informative)
It's not that Apple can do no wrong, but that they don't try to imo.
Re:that's only the half of it (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Another Thought (Score:3, Informative)
The sound could be directly embedded in the DLL.
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
Historically, the startup sound is due to the legacy of a bell or beeper being more reliable than a monitor. The beep was available as soon as power was turned on, but monitors had a few seconds until the tube warmed up, et cetera. The bell and later the speaker were more robust, so you knew the computer was running even if you didn't get a picture on the CRT screen.
I think if the startup sound in Vista is non-deactivatable, then the most likely cause is due to programmers capitulating at getting the sound controls activated before the sound starts, or because somebody insisted that since Microsoft payed some bigname composer to make this one sound, they want to make sure everybody hears it (maybe Jim Composer insisted upon it in his contract).
Re:Copying the Mac again... (Score:2, Informative)
Replacing 'the sound file' like some people suggest is impossible I think. AFAIK the sound comes from ROM.
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
To be more precise, it is part of the Open Firmware. The word "Open" in Open Firmware [wikipedia.org] doesn't mean the firmware is open source, but that it has an open API. Thus one can manipulate the firmware using this API without having to deal with a proprietary BIOS screen. E.g. the
command line tool on Mac OS X uses this API to manipulate settings of the firmware while the operating system is running.To disable the startup chime just execute
on the command line, e.g. in the Mac OS X Terminal application. StartupSound.prefPane [biglobe.ne.jp] and TinkerTool System [bresink.com] use similar techniques to disable the startup chime.So the startup chime of the Open Firmware isn't mandatory, but it is not very well documented, how to disable it. From a sophisticated platform like the Mac, I would expect an easily accessible control in the system preferences, not some thirdpary add-ons or obscure acrobatic on the command line; but perhaps I'm just spoiled over the years with OS X.
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:2, Informative)
Just today I walked into the "Maximum Quiet Study Area" for our univerisity's library, and popped open my laptop and turned it on. My gkrellm instance sounded my "alert" sound (which is actually very rare, the load was too high from the boot apparently), and I rushed to hit the mute button.
The startup sound on Vista would be before any multimedia keys are registered if it's at all like XP is, and that wouldn't have worked. Laptop speakers don't have volume control!
Get yourself a bare 3.5mm jack plug connector to insert into the headphones socket. Then if you want to mute, just insert it into the socket and it will mute the main speakers and send the sound the headphones it thinks are connected to the connector.
Re:Mac has a "nice" startup sound (Score:1, Informative)
Yes, yes, of course you can simply press and hold down the mute key while starting up each and every time. But if you have your Mac set to come on automatically at 5:30am each morning, and you have $300 speakers attached to it, you can wake the entire house. Why close down at night and start up fresh each day? Because there are a myriad of things that only start working right again once you restart the Mac. And given Tiger's extremely fast start time now, it's one of the easiest and fastest ways to repair all sorts of glitches.
Anyway, the first thing I install on my G5. It's a cool little freeware called StartupSound.prefPane (http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mod
You can set your startup sound to any level you want, including muted, which is what I do - but you must use 3rd party software to do it.
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How to turn it off.. (Score:4, Informative)
Step 1: cacls {TheFile}
Winlogon doesn't run as Administrator and so won't be able to load the file. WFP doesn't run as Administrator and so won't be able to replace the file.
Re: Defenestration (Score:2, Informative)
Defenestration has become popular as a term for switching from MS Windows to Linux or another operating system [5]. It is claimed that this usage originated in the University of Helsinki in the mid-1990s.
Steve Ball, Group Program manager: "...Windows Vista should present a common, and beautiful, face to the world."
Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer: (Paraphrased) "...Defenestrate, Defenestrate, Defenestrate, Defenestrate, Defenestrate, Defenestrate, Defenestrate, Defenestrate."
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
Re:that's only the half of it (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Horrible idea, but thats par for the course for (Score:3, Informative)
Which is why Vista's volume control is actually useful - it can control volume per app [msdn.com] (thanks to its new audio stack)