0

I left my PC unprotected and my roommates screwed with it so that it constantly plays an audio clip. It repeats every few seconds, often interrupting itself.

I can tell from some brief digging that they went to YouTube in a private browser, downloaded an MP3 with a plugin that I have installed, converted it to WAV, and set something up to play the file. So I know it's a trippy Windows-specific thing if it had to be converted to WAV.

I want to know how they did it (so I can return the favor) and how to find the script or program that is running and terminate it and make it stop running at startup. Can anyone help with that?

Edit: I've confirmed that the program producing the audio events is system32/taskhostw.exe. I don't know if that is a legitimate program (Malwarebytes didn't seem to have a problem with it) but it looks to be an automated thing, so that doesn't tell me what is adding it to Windows' action queue or whatever that exe is reading from.

1 Answer 1

3

Since they converted it to WAV, my guess would be that they've set a new system sound.

Just open the sound properties and go through the list to see if there is something suspicious. My guess would be something previously unused, like "Close program", "Maximize" etc.

sound properties

2
  • That's brilliant. Exactly the case. Thank you very much! I'm a linux guy but I use Windows for gaming, so my mind immediately went to scripts, but this makes far more sense. Completely over-thought it. Thank you again!
    – TechnoSam
    Aug 28, 2017 at 6:36
  • No worries. I've done my share of pranks over the years, so I know a thing or two about it.. ;)
    – Magnus
    Aug 28, 2017 at 6:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .