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The mystery of the Spy computer

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Robo Pi
(@robo-pi)
Robotics Engineer
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1669
Topic starter  

A strange thing began to happen.  Every time I got up and walked away from my computer it would give the Windows device detached jingle.   And no, it didn't give the reattachment jingle when I came back to.  Only when I would get up and leave.  It also would never seem to do it when I tried to make it do it on purpose.

I checked to be sure that I wasn't bumping any wires or USB connections and I double checked all the connections.  I even disconnected a few USB peripherals to eliminate them as being the source of the problem.  But the problem continued.

I started to seriously suspect that this was some kind of spyware and that I was being watched via my computer's camera.  And the spyware was designed to give the jingle when I walk away from the computer.

I even looked this up on Google to see if anyone else was experiencing this.  I did find a thread where a fellow was experiencing a similar thing.  But in his case it ultimately did turn out to be a bad USB connection that he found and resolved.

I was at a total loss to find my problem, but then,...

I was in front of my computer and decided to take my sweater off because the room had warmed up.  When I tool my sweater off the computer when absolutely nuts.  It was giving connect and disconnect jingles like crazy.  I could also feel the static electricity in my sweater.   So I got a can of anti-static spray and sprayed my sweater to discharge the static charges.  Sure enough, the solved the problem.   The computer was silent after I had done that and stopped announcing my departure every time I would get up and walk away.

At least that lasted for a while.  But after a day or so it started doing it again.   The sweater had become statically active again.  And so once again I had to spray it with anti-static spray to discharge it.  But that seems to do the trick.

Still curious as to how these static chargers are causing the computer to execute its jingles though.  It doesn't appear to be causing any other part of the computer system to malfunction.   But that was definitely the cause.

DroneBot Workshop Robotics Engineer
James


   
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(@brititalia)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1
 

ooohhhh dear....not all are locked up...HI!


   
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Spyder
(@spyder)
Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 846
 

@robo-pi

Something not quite completely unsimilar happened to me last night

I was experimenting with trying to make a Jacob's Ladder, and my smart TV started throwing strange stuff on my screen. At first I thought my computer had gone nuts, til I hit some buttons on the TV remote, and got the screen to go back to normal. It kept doing it for a few hours after I stopped playing with the massive voltage generator

I may have to move that particular experiment downstairs to the lab


   
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