me: good morning. i would like to raise a ticket as my computer is beeping every time i log into the metaframe and this is deadly annoying.

helpdesk: stand by for a second. we will take over your computer to make a screenshot of the problem

 

 

WTF?

1. If your user is logging on to Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server XenApp then shadowing is no big deal.

2. Even before they get into Citrix (can't be bothered with the strikethrough any more) they might have wanted to RDP/VNC to your machine to take a screenshot.

3. Ever tried to talk an end user through taking a screenshot with Alt_PrtScr? 

I must be missing something, as I don't see how a screenshot is going to help identify a beep.

 

upsidedowncreature:

3. Ever tried to talk an end user through taking a screenshot with Alt_PrtScr? 

Ever try taking a screenshot of a beep?

Veinor:

 

Ever try taking a screenshot of a beep?

 

Meh, it's late.

Maybe they've got a Dell laptop?  Those things have got the loudest beeps I've ever heard, and they're not willing to be silenced. 

low:

this is deadly annoying.

 

 

While I'm on, I work in a 19th century listed building in the UK, from which chunks of masonry regularly fall to the ground annihalat exterminating passers-by.  To facilitate the repair work they've got a cherry-picker hydraulic lift to sit under my window and every time *any* part of it moves  it emits a beep only slightly softer than that of a Dell Laptop.

Then I've got the compressor for the sprinkler system right outside my office door - this fires up at random intervals, for random periods, throughout the day.  Yes, it's loud, thanks for asking.

Headphones FTW! 

upsidedowncreature:

Maybe they've got a Dell laptop?  Those things have got the loudest beeps I've ever heard, and they're not willing to be silenced. 

 

 

In Device Manager, go to View and choose Show Hidden Devices (or something like that).  In the right hand pane (where the devices are shown) there is a branch for Hidden Devices.  Find the Beep device and disable it.  Laptop is now quiet. 

I would instantly do that if I wasnt locked in in a "standardisation is cheap and we will not let you modify anything - so we don't have to pay a thinking human being for support" environment...

 It turned out that the beep is coming from the metaframe server. It has no physical soundcard, so all alerts and that sort of things are using the server's beep device, and this is passed through directly to the client's beeper, even if the client has a soundcard and all.

cablecar:

I must be missing something, as I don't see how a screenshot is going to help identify a beep.

 

Welcome to TDWTF.

 Are we playing the "most annoying sound you've heard at work" game now?

 A few days ago the building we're in started doing some sort of maintenance outside.  A copule of guys in the scaffold are making a noise I last heard while I was getting my teeth drilled at the dentist.  Needless to say,this sounds just as pleasant as the dentist visit felt.

Chahk:

 Are we playing the "most annoying sound you've heard at work" game now?

This can be taken many ways.  Like, hearing a fart is pretty annoying because it means toxic fumes may be on the way.  Recently the building attached to my office is being remodeled and non-stop jackhammering has driven some of my co-workers crazy. 

Chahk:

 Are we playing the "most annoying sound you've heard at work" game now?

Most annoying smell which is not there.

One weekend I've worked on a piece of walnut board with a router (of 27000 rpm kind, not the one of TCP/IP kind). Apparently walnut dust it quite allergy-inducing and can irritate your air passages. Even though I was wearing a dust mask, next Monday, as I got into my office, I started to feel strange strong smell, like toxic plastic. The smell seemed coincide with AC turning on. I blamed the building maintenance for using some nasty cleaner on the AC filters. The strange thing was that outside, I could smell it, too, as the wind blowed. And in my car, when AC was blowind. And pretty much always.

It went away in about a week.

 

Chahk:

 Are we playing the "most annoying sound you've heard at work" game now?

 A few days ago the building we're in started doing some sort of maintenance outside.  A copule of guys in the scaffold are making a noise I last heard while I was getting my teeth drilled at the dentist.  Needless to say,this sounds just as pleasant as the dentist visit felt.

That's nothing. I used to work at a mechanical testing lab (getting paid to break things, yay!) One of the standard tests we did was "hole-drill stress relief": wire up a chunk of metal with a bunch of sensors, and drill a tiny hole in the middle of all those sensors to see how the surface of the metal deforms. Drilling was done with -- guess what? -- a dentist's drill. There's nothing quite like sitting there for an entire shift listening to that whine.

cablecar:

I must be missing something, as I don't see how a screenshot is going to help identify a beep.

 

 

Might conceivably be useful to identify which programs were running at the time.

 

what if I told you the total number of open programmes was 1 (one) - being the beeping programme in question.

 Reminds me of the Solaris penchant for beeping, beeping, beeping, beeping, and beeping. Seemed several common actions would cause it including having the audacity to tab complete where there were two or more options. For years, my solution was to unplug the speaker on the machine, but then I stumbled upon xset b off. 

alegr:

Most annoying smell which is not there.

Weed

Chahk:

Are we playing the "most annoying sound you've heard at work" game now?

The most annoying sound for me is the sound of my alarm clock. I don't mind if it's the real alarm waking me — that's what I put it there for — but if I hear a similar sound while awake, it drives me nuts. My mind frantically tries to wake up — but it can't!

Ting! Ting-ting! Ting-ting-ting-ting!

Spectre:

...but if I hear a similar sound while awake, it drives me nuts. My mind frantically tries to wake up — but it can't!

Ting! Ting-ting! Ting-ting-ting-ting!

This is Nature's way of telling you to lay the fuck off acid for awhile. 

 

obediah:

but then I stumbled upon xset b off. 

 Similar to what I do on pretty much any Linux box I have root access... 'rmmod pcspkr' and it's done :)

 Too bad that some distros (namely, openSUSE) don't build PC speaker support as a module, and it is "hardwired" into the kernel. :(

My vote for most annoying sound is the fire alarm in my office.  I'm a quiet person and prefer somewhat quiet environments.  Plus since I work in an area that is mostly IT people, it's generally a quiet office.  So when they do the yearly fire drill (without advanced notice for some reason), I first have to peel myself off the ceiling before I can exit the building... generally mad as a wet cat.  Is it really that important to deafen everybody in the name of fire safety?

jetcitywoman:

Plus since I work in an area that is mostly IT people, it's generally a quiet office

My office is filled with IT people and it's certainly not "generally quiet."  Is this weird among IT shops?

jetcitywoman:

So when they do the yearly fire drill (without advanced notice for some reason), I first have to peel myself off the ceiling before I can exit the building... generally mad as a wet cat.  Is it really that important to deafen everybody in the name of fire safety?

It's not a workplace thing, but this reminds me of the dorms I lived in during my first year in Uni. There was a fire alarm speaker in every room... right above the bed. They were probably thinking "we need to wake up drunk, passed out students" when they were setting the volume too. And they tested the system every Monday at noon when every self-respecting student was in bed. I had to open the thing up and shove some blu tac in there just to avoid having a heart attack.

belgariontheking:

My office brothel is filled with IT BDSM people and it's certainly not "generally quiet."  Is this weird among IT shops sex workers paid in cocaine?

FTFY. 

jetcitywoman:

My vote for most annoying sound is the fire alarm in my office.  I'm a quiet person and prefer somewhat quiet environments.  Plus since I work in an area that is mostly IT people, it's generally a quiet office.  So when they do the yearly fire drill (without advanced notice for some reason),

Just a heads-up: you do *not* want to go to work in the computer chip manufacturing business. Monthly building evacuation drills tend to be the norm there, apparently. (I've only actually worked at a couple, but I've heard most of the rest do it, too.)