I just bought a new PC. Every time I start it up, I involuntarily cringe when Windows' start-up theme plays. Short of plugging out the speakers, is there anything that can be done about this?

The sound in Windows is fully customisable. You can tweak it to your heart's contend, using your own sound clips, or even just shutting off all or selected sounds.

I've even had the dubious pleasure of listening to Arnold Schwarzenegger saying "I'll be back" when my PC shuts down.

Here's how, in Windows XP:

  • Click on the Start button.
  • Click on "Control Panel".
  • Click on the link "Sound, Speech and Audio devices".
  • Click on the link "Change the sound scheme".
  • Under the "Sounds" tab you'll see a field labelled "Program Events" which lists a number of events with a little speaker icon next to it. If it has a speaker icon next to it, it means that Windows will play a sound when that event takes place. When you highlight the event, it will display the sound clip that will play, in the drop-down menu below it labelled "Sounds".
  • You can change any of these sounds by highlighting the event and then choosing a sound clip from the drop-down menu, or clicking on the "Browse" button and selecting your own (that's how I got my Arnie sound playing).
  • To switch off the sound for a specific event — in this case for when Windows starts up — highlight the event named "Start Windows" (or your preferred event) from the list and then, in the drop-down window below it, select the option "None".
  • Click on "OK".