This is one of those things which I cannot believe I tolerated in the past – The annoying clicking sounds IE makes every single time you click on a link. Here’s how you turn it off.
- From the “Start†pop-up menu on your desktop, select your computer’s “Control Panel.â€
- From this list, pick “Sounds and Audio Devices†(for Windows XP) or “Sounds and Multimedia Properties†(for Windows 2000).
- From the tabs across the top, pick “Sounds.â€
- Scroll down and you’ll find a category called “Windows Explorer.†The last item under this heading is “Start Navigation.†Click this to highlight it.
- In the box just below this, called “Sounds,†open the pop-up menu and scroll to the top to choose (None).
- Click the “OK†button to close the dialog window – and you’re done!
…but then again – why are you using Internet Explorer? You should be on Firefox!
yeah, its kinda like the Princess and the Pea huh?
you’re the princess and clicking sound is the pea..?
Yeah the clicking is a minor annoyance – but you don’t have to live with it you know what I mean?
Thank you so much for this info – that clicking sound was driving me crazy!! I adjusted something yesterday in my sounds and somehow turned that thing on – how annoying. Thanks again!
No problems rf – it was my pleasure to help :)
Bless you and all your offspring forever! The sounds kept growing and growing in my mind and now THEY ARE GONE! What a relief.
Thanks, but why would anyone think that a parameter for Windows Explorer would actually effect what happens in Internet Explorer?
@Paul – You can thank the creators of Windows for that
or it may be part of their EU antitrust defense plan… you know, the one where they claimed IE and Windows are one and cannot be separated *conspiracy theory disclaimer :) *
So easy, so obvious… Still I din’t think of looking there and that stupid noise drives me creazy! Thanx for helping me keeping my sanity :-)
Now where have I seen this before?! *lol* Long live Firefox!
just stop using internet explorer
http://stopie.wordpress.com
THANK YOU!!!
This saved me some grief, I hate that sound.
I am so glad someone takes the time to post info like this. I just can not have annoying clicking sounds when I am Djing Live.
Thanks,
Dj Ric-Derr “C”
many thanks.
Thanks! Man, that was soooo annoying
thanks!!!
Thanks a ton!!!!
Click sound annoying!!!
Aggrevation $100
Therapy Session $500
Removal of annoying sound Priceless!!!!!
Thanks for the help
Many thanks, very helpful to block the ticking noise from IE as I was listening to music !
The annoying sound doesnt seem to disappear. I have followed your instructions
Thanks!
Thank you!!!
re: ‘How to stop IE’s annoying clicking sound’. WOW! Thank you sooo much for that solution! That sound was awful. It is gone – forever!!
Very useful information. Thanks.
The sound played by navigating the web through IE is very annoying. I do not have choice to use it because my favorite online music station cannot play on FireFox.
Thanks again.
Yes, thanks for the instructions, those are some really, really, really STUPID SOUNDS. And to answer your question about why I’m still using IE, Netflix requires it to watch their instant movies. How lame is that? Normally I use Firefox for everything else.
@Clay Ouch – come on Netflix – play nice with other browsers :)
For those interested in disabling the click sound in Windows 7, check out this post: http://bit.ly/KKYiX
Thank you so much! My life just got a little better!
Worked great, thanks.
ok, just for keep it updated, I had the same problem with the “clicking” sound, even with the iexplorer closed. So I turned off the sound for that action, but …there might be a reason for that. So, I tried hijack this, but it discovered nothing. Finally I tried the latest Malicious removal tool from MS (July 09) and it found a trojan downloader: win32/renos.FJ and then removed it. So, since that, the annoying clicking sound its gone.
Thanks, i hate all the sounds that windows makes. Man, i just turned them all of. Peace
alex
thank you! i love fire fox but if i ever have to use ie i cannot stand that clicking sound. sometimes you wonder how hard microsoft works on this crap they put out. i am a windows guy but if we ever had a pc that used open source that worked as good as firefox, i would never use microsoft again.
Thanks! Why does IE do that anyway? It just goes to show how out of touch the company is.
Thank you! You have no idea (or perhaps you do!) just how big and nasty a headache you have delivered me from. One can only take so much motrin, after all, without blowing a kidney.
Gratitude, dude. Gratitude.
I actually enjoy the clicking sound. It feels empty and awkward without hearing. like I’m just barely hovering over the internet instead of actually being inmmersed in it. Maybe it’s because I never listen to music or anything while I browse.
OKAY, I didnt want to get rid of the sound at all because it didnt bother me when I clicked on things, “BUT” I must either have a TROJAN HORSE that is making it click randomly “or” the Internet Explorer is downloading COOKIES and making that clicking noise.. What is annoying tho is that I hear it click randomly about 5 times every 20 seconds without touching the mouse…SO, whatever problem is going on, whatever problem is making it do the clicking noise, will still be there, I just wont be able to hear it….SO, either do a virus search or stop a cookies(this works, but cannot visit many sites without alowing cookies)
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is one of the few times where the information was accurate and helpful. No more freakin’ clicking noises!!
Thank you so much for your help!
I don’t know if someone mentioned this before, but my computer won’t stop doing it. I go to sounds and go down to Internet Explorer and all that, select Start Navigation and None for Sounds, but it WILL NOT APPLY IT. I hit OK and go back to the browser, but it’s still making the clicking sound, and I go back into Sounds so see what’s up and the sound is selected again. It’s like I never changed it. I’ve checked to see what happens if I leave the window open and just hit apply, then while it’s deselected and supposedly applied, I go to the browser and click a link. But it still makes the sound. I’ve also tried selecting None as the sound scheme, but same thing – it still makes sounds and when I open up the Sounds window again, it has gone back to the default, like I never changed it. Gah, I have a migraine.
Great instructions, thanks, I hated that sound, now its nice and silent.
Hey friend.. Thanks a lot.. I mean it.. I use headphones and I was so much annoyed with that sound.. Now I am very happy. Thanks again and again..
What the hell was in the “minds” of the Windows engineers or programmers when they defaulted ‘on’ that stupid, useless, annoying, user-distracting click sound? Are they sadists, masochists or just plain damned fools? Probably all of the above.
LOL
It doesn’t work with Windows XP SP 3. The OS simply restores the default sound… So… DELETE the stupid wav and live a long happy life :p
Oh Wise One, You are my GOD!
Peace at last!!!!!
Thanks you! Such an easy fix, but may not have figured it out if you didn’t post this little guide. Unfortunately I still have to use IE for some things. Besides that, IE 8′s not all that bad. a little slower than the rest and it’s kinda ugly but that’s it. It’s still not my first or second pick. Maybe third. Thanks again.
When Firefox loads within 3 minutes of me clicking it on first launch, I’ll consider switching back. :/ I prefer Firefox once it’s going, but good lord.
Thanks so much! I have to use IE for work, and the drives me bonkers! I appreciate the help!
you, sir, are a lifesaver! Thank you!
Sometimes changing this setting WILL NOT TAKE, it keeps resetting itself, and the sound keeps clicking away. A reboot didn’t help, and even after many times of changing and it reverting, it finally showed “NONE” as a sound choice but it STILL kept making the clicking sound!
HERE’S the CURE for the stubborn rare times it refuses to shut off. Choose a sound for the Start Navigation by highlighting it and clicking “Browse”. Find the file “Windows XP Start.wav” in the “Browse For” box that comes up, right click it, and chose Rename. Put a “.bak” on the end of it so it now reads “Windows XP Start.wav.bak”.
That way Windows cannot find the file to play it, and the phantom clicking will stop.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! EXTREMELY CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS! IT IS SO WONDERFUL TO HAVE THAT ANNOYING SOUND *GONE*! THANKS AGAIN!
Thankyou! I need to use this browser for my web design course, you’ve saved my mental health
To whoever it was that said “delete the file” — thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have saved me from quite possibly YEARS of therapy after going MAD from listening to that BLOODY CLICKING NOISE!!!
If the clicking sound is random (without mouse input) then it’s being caused by some trojan annoyance. don’t look to the messenger for the answer though
thanks so much for your tip to this rather irritating and annoying problem. Your suggested solution worked for me. Many thanks again.