Is my computer hacked or am I losing my mind?

Few hours ago I was casually browsing the net, watching some youtube videos. As I was watching one video, a static sound began emitting from my speakers and, normally, I thought it was either a pop-up somewhere, an annoying ad banner on some website, or it came from the video itself. I closed my browser and every other application and the sound still came through the speakers. Through the static I could clearly make out man's voice speaking in English. It lasted for 10 seconds and then stopped. As I sat there wondering what could have possibly made the sound, it started again, few moments later. It sounded like an old static-y radio and I could hear English in the background. Man's voice said "I do not have much time" followed by something else I could not really understand and then this was repeated few times before finally ending. As the sound was emitting, I turned the volume all the way up on my computer to be able to hear what was being said better but the volume of the sound did not increase whatsoever.

This same exact thing happened to me about a year ago but the sound lasted for much shorter amount of time and I did not think of it much back then. I ran the virus scanner and I do not have any viruses. I am also not the one to believe in ghosts and consider myself mentally stable.

Has anyone else experienced this or knows what this could possibly be? The strangest part is, as I said, when I cranked up the volume in the speakers all the way up (they were pretty low) the volume of the noise and the message did not increase at all.

I had some old speakers once that picked up nearby radios just from being plugged in, the volume could by turned down and the speakers on standby and like with you the volume did nothing. I used to be able to pick up random police cars, taxis, ambulances etc etc.

Sound like this.

reply to post by frozenspark


Well you could simply be picking up interference. My guitar setup usually uses at least 1 "wah" pedals which sometimes pick up radio signals (a hockey game one time) and in another instance i picked up someones cordless phone conversation.

The fact that changing the volume on your pc didn't help might point towards that. Did you attempt to change the volume on the speakers themselves? Wireless surround sound?

Back when I was stationed in England, the computer I had would sometimes pick up radio transmissions through the speakers. I think it was the police and/or fire radio bands.

It is not wireless, and I did attempt to increase the volume on the speakers themselves. What you say actually makes sense, because it sounded like I was picking up police conversations over radio. I just never knew my speakers could randomly do something like that.

Back in the late 80's and early 90's, I was playing with a rock band at local night clubs, and our lead guitarist had a wireless set up on his guitar/amp. Whenever someone was talking on a CB radio, the voice would bleed over into our sound. They've fixed that since then, but maybe something like this is happening to you as well.

reply to post by frozenspark


I had a similar experience with my computer about a year ago.

Every application was closed, but some kind of radio program was coming trough, it was clear as day and I know it was some type of radio show, because it was interrupted by the commercials, like every 5-7 minutes. I restarted my computer a numerous times, that would help for about 5 minutes, when the same radio program would start again, the weird thing is, it would start from almost the same moment as the when I first start hearing it. I could hear it, even without being connected to the Internet.

I run numerous different virus check, took it to a Best Buy, so even they can do "maintenance" on my laptop (they never told me, they have heard anything, while they had my computer there) - didn't help. I had to replace my laptop, about a year ago.

I don't know, if its the similar story, to what you experienced - buts its mine.

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by frozenspark

 

Well you could simply be picking up interference. My guitar setup usually uses at least 1 "wah" pedals which sometimes pick up radio signals (a hockey game one time) and in another instance i picked up someones cordless phone conversation.

The fact that changing the volume on your pc didn't help might point towards that. Did you attempt to change the volume on the speakers themselves? Wireless surround sound?

Yes... interferrence. I know of musician's amps picking up LE transmissions. Occasionally I've picked up somebody's feedback on my PC speakers. I also have a set of sennheiser wireless headphones that once picked up my neighbor's telephone conversation on her cheap handset that she picked up at a garage sale for $1. Now how weird is that???

reply to post by shushu


id be mad about some expensive sennheisers being interrupted too. my wireless speakers used to pick up the neighbors wireless phone. i wont use wireless after that.

reply to post by shushu

Now how weird is that???

Quite weird, but how about this: (I did post this story in some thread on here sometime ago but it kinda fits here too)

When I was young and still living with my parents, I had a 13 inch color TV in my bedroom. My father split the cable line and ran it to my tv and the tv in their bedroom. Having broken the remote for the tv, I was only able to go up to channel 30 or 31, eventually that went down to 13, but whatever. Anyways, we were living in a town house, meaning we had 3 floors and there were i think 4 units per building, side by side.

So I'm watching tv one day and flip past i think channel 14, whatever channel it was it wasn't one I watched much, possibly a french channel.

Now, my tv had the display on the top right side in bright green digital fonts, showing you the tv channel and such.

I noticed that I was seeing my display showing whatever channel, but in the right corner, in white font, and a different font entirely, it was showing a channel up in the 40 range (at the time there were paid movie channels you needed a "magic box" receiver to actually unscramble.)

And it's a movie, something with John Candy if I recall.

I was stunned, and sat through the entire movie stumped as to how I was picking up someone elses pay cable on my tv. I eventually turned it off and it never happened again. I can only assume people close to us had maybe tried to splice cable from us and messed it up? Never figured it out, but it's always stuck with me.

Kinda like that episode of friends with the free porn, never turn the tv off!

Originally posted by gougitousakusha
reply to post by shushu

 

id be mad about some expensive sennheisers being interrupted too. my wireless speakers used to pick up the neighbors wireless phone. i wont use wireless after that.

I was able to switch to a different channel and tune her out... but imagine my shock when she actually came through. I didn't waste any time letting her know what happened, either. I suggested that she buy a better handset... because if I was picking her up... chances were the entire neighborhood was also picking her up.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters

And it's a movie, something with John Candy if I recall.

By any chance... was this the John Candy movie that you were watching???

OK, so there are some areas you can check to ensure that this was a malware trojan or other type of init , and not a direct streaming connection to your computer.

1. The startup folder. Use a DOS command and navigate to your desktop startup folder. Type attrib *.* -r -h -s
(this will unhide anything that may have been deposited there)

Look for any program or command shortcut that is not what you would expect. Any executable or .cmd (batch, .bat) file in here automatically gets executed when you log in to your account (or start your computer when you do not have a password enabled)

2. Search the registry for a run or runonce entry that will execute a command script or executable when the machine starts. this is typically :
(use a command prompt and type REGEDIT32)
Examine these keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/W/ndows/CurrentVersion/Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunOnce

You should look for any subkey or value under these keys for anything that attempts to run something you do not expect at startup.

98% of all malware uses one of the above methods to get a foothold in your system. You may have something else more sinister that may require scanning your system with: MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware or AVG - all available for free on the net.

3. Also, you should also issue a netstat -a command from the command prompt window, just to see if something you do not recognize has established a connection with you over the internet. You will need some further help with this and that is beyond what I can help here with

4. Go to the Control panel and pull up the sounds applet. Click on the "sounds" tab and make sure that no windows events or keystrokes are assigned to a waveform file that could have been deposited somewhere in your computer.
Good Luck and hope this helps.

reply to post by charlyv


Wow!!! I found a Windows Default.... and a Windows Default (modified) when I went to check on my speakers. What's that all about???

reply to post by shushu


Windows default is ok, but modified means something else is assigned to that event... just click on the wave file assigned to see if it plays something not expected.

I would Like to point out that the FCC requires that electronic devices not designed for military or law enforcement use accept any incoming interference. I am unsure of the reasoning behind this, but I know it is an established clause in the manufacturing of electronic devices.

It sounds like you are picking up interference from some sort of communications device (CB, Ham radio, ect.)

Do a search for "ferrite toroid". They are a doughnut shaped ring. Just loop your speaker cables through them a few times and that should clean up any interference.

I recently had to buy some for my neighbors, because my radio was bleeding into their new sound system. There were no problems with their old setup, but their new one seems to be more sensitive to radio frequency interference.

J.

I just experienced this the other day. Completely freaked me out. Enough to make me jump. After running my anti-virus, anti-malware and such, I did a search. The answers I found on line are pretty much the same ones being given here.

WOW I just came across this forum trying to find out what the hell I’ve been hearing. I started hearing a low static sound. Turned the volume up and down still doesn’t change no matter how high, or low I go. and I first heard it right after watching a youtube video. I’ve been able to make out a few things. "I’ve been out here way to fu@#ing long.” "Yah, the worst things you can loose are your arms, and your legs, those are important.” Just heard this as I’m typing: "Hay bonehead hay bonehead so she doesn’t even know who the daddy is!”

I've had massive problems with static - so loud you can't hear anything of the damn video.

Try switching between HTML5 player and Flash.

That sorted it out for me, though it's still an occasional problem.