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Google Pacman Sound Bug

Martin Brinkmann
May 21, 2010
Updated • Feb 23, 2015
Google
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115

If you have visited the Google homepage today you might have noticed the Pacman logo instead of the usual logo that appears on the Google site.

This logo has been placed there to celebrate the 30th birthday of Pacman, a video game created in 1980.

This Google Doodle is unusual though as it is an interactive one. Google has placed an Insert Coin button on the same page and if you press that button a game of Pacman starts.

Pacman can be controlled with the cursor keys as usual. The player has to avoid the ghosts and eat all of the yellow dots to proceed.

Some users have experienced an annoying Pacman sound bug which did not go away when closing the Google web page but continued to play on all sites they visited.

The bug can be caused by many different things but it is clear that it is related to the Google Pacman logo.

Several Firefox users have experienced the sound bug because of add-ons they have installed. Add-ons that are known to cause problems are Cool Previews or Cooliris.

Most users who are experiencing the sound bug are likely running a similar plugin that is getting page previews from Google.

Have you experienced the Pacman sound bug on the Google homepage? Let us know how you solved it.

Update: The Cool Preview developers have updated their extension and say that the bug has been fixed in the new version which can be downloaded from their homepage.

Update 2: Users who are experiencing the issue in other browsers might consider disabling JavaScript in their web browser or using an adblocker of flashblocker to block the game from loading (it will be a static image then).

Internet Explorer users can add Google.com to the Restricted sites by going to Tools > Internet Options > Security, clicking on Restricted Sites and the Sites button afterwards. They then need to add google.com (or whatever google domain they use) to the list.

Summary
Google Pacman Sound Bug
Article Name
Google Pacman Sound Bug
Description
Google embedded a Pacman game on its homepage to celebrate the 30th birthday of the game franchise. Some users experienced a sound bug because of it.
Author
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Comments

  1. Johnathan said on September 11, 2022 at 8:30 pm
    Reply

    I just use google play games to play it and that fixes the bug.

  2. Anonymous said on May 26, 2010 at 6:18 pm
    Reply

    What a bunch of crybabies. WAHHH

  3. Ioan said on May 23, 2010 at 9:33 am
    Reply

    THE ANSWER IS HERE! Just CLICK ’search’ with the subject box ‘BLANK’. Goes to web search box “Your search did not match any documents”. SAVE this page as your home page and the you have silence and search from that new Google home page.

  4. Ioan said on May 23, 2010 at 9:31 am
    Reply

    THE ANSWER IS HERE! Just CLICK ‘search’ with the subject box ‘BLANK’. Goes to web search box saying you have not enter anything. SAVE this page as your home page and the you have silence and search from that new Google home page. Good luck .

  5. dankaduna said on May 23, 2010 at 8:45 am
    Reply

    No doubt the stupidest marketing idea in internet history. And the Google apologists say if we aren’t smart
    enough to turn our computers off to fix it then we don’t deserve to have a computer in the first place!

    An idiocy wrapped in arrogance and concealed by lame excuses is what I call it.

  6. Tom said on May 23, 2010 at 6:03 am
    Reply

    I don’t know if it’s the same bug that you mention.

    I think that somebody founds another bug in the Google Pacman game: http://goohackle.com/google-pacman-bug/

  7. Ross said on May 23, 2010 at 1:21 am
    Reply

    dhpnet:
    “Those complainers on this site are all a bunch of whining idiots.”

    Can’t you read? I suppose you think you are too clever to need to.

    We didn’t open a Google page. There was no game. We just logged on normally to a local website or email or whatever and had no idea why our computers were suddenly infected by this bloody wailing pacman noise. But no information, nothing different on the screen at all.

    The noise only stopped when the internet connection was broken. So we couldn’t use anything on the internet involving sound. No chat, no YouTube, no radio, no TV news, no Skype….

    What would you do?
    I bet the last thing you would do is get back on the net. You would be running every scan and antivirus and changing every setting you could find.

    Eventually, some of us went back to the net to look for the answer. Depending on where in the world you were, that may have given other time to find solutions. We are at least six hours behind US time here (it was Saturday morning here), so that helped. But at best we had already wasted a lot of time; at worst unfortunately many will have changed so many settings and uninstalled so many programs that their computers will never be the same again.

  8. John said on May 23, 2010 at 12:27 am
    Reply

    Being “cool” is nothing more than being ignorant just because your friends are doing it.

  9. Steve said on May 22, 2010 at 10:00 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for the work, Google. Unless this noisy piece of crap is gone by Sunday, I’ll have to change the home page on the computers I manage.
    Of course, my employers might see things a little differently than I do, after they get my bill.

  10. Oliver said on May 22, 2010 at 9:15 pm
    Reply

    My tip: Users can click the “Insert Coin” button to get the game going, or click it twice to kick-off a two-player game – you can play as Ms pacman – controls are w,s,a,d. Enjoy! :)

    More info at http://pacmanmuseum.com/news/

  11. dhpnet said on May 22, 2010 at 8:17 pm
    Reply

    I LOVE GOOGLE. What a cool thing to do for a day. Those complainers on this site are all a bunch of whining idiots. Firefox sucks, not Google. Google: outstanding programming, exceptional creativity, boldness and out of the box thinking. The rest of you deserve the blandness that you get from Firefox and Bing. Way To Go Google. Thank you for keeping creativity and fun alive. The Web would be a boring, drap, hell if it was run according to the rules of the people on this site.

  12. Taff said on May 22, 2010 at 8:10 pm
    Reply

    These posts make me weep for humanity.

    (… what? I can’t be a drama queen too?)

  13. photonal said on May 22, 2010 at 5:20 pm
    Reply

    just as google was becoming part of the establishment and even a little boring…

    google comes up with a cool makeover and reminds everyone how cool they are!

  14. Ross said on May 22, 2010 at 2:05 pm
    Reply

    For all of the Smart A***s out there who don’t understand what happened to most of us:

    People like me never went near a Google page, we never saw, played, or even had any clue that a Pacman game even existed, we just opened our browser (my homepage is a local, New Zealand web page) and we were assaulted by an obnoxious wailing noise that we could only stop by turning the sound completely off. This is totally unacceptable. (Do I have to mention that people use computers for music, radio, Youtube, skype…)

    I think I probably got the noise because I have Gmail on my Google toolbar. Guess what: Google toolbar is now gone forever.

    How could they have made such a stupid mistake? Are the Google-ophiles suggesting to us that nobody in Google uses a combination of Firefox and CoolPreviews? I would be laughing loudly at their expense if it hadn’t cost me a most of my valuable Saturday morning trying to get rid of it.

    (My unfinished comment just vanished. I’ll try again…)

    1. Johnathan said on September 11, 2022 at 8:34 pm
      Reply

      “How could they have made such a stupid mistake?”
      1. Youre crazy if you lose your mind over a MISSING SOUND STUPID
      2. Just use Google Play Games

  15. Anonymous said on May 22, 2010 at 1:58 pm
    Reply

    For all of the Smart A***s out there who don’t understand what happened to most of us:

    People like me never went near a Google page, we never saw, played, or even had any clue that a Pacman game even existed, we just opened our browser (my homepage is a local, New Zealand web page) and we were assaulted by an obnoxious wailing noise that we could only stop by turning the sound completely off. (Do I have to tell you that people use computers for music, radio, Youtube, skype…) This is totally unacceptable.

    I think I probably got the noise because I have Gmail on my Google toolbar. Guess what: Google toolbar is now gone forever.

    How could they have made such a stupid mistake? Are the Google-ophiles suggesting to us that nobody in Google uses a combination of Firefox and CoolPreviews? I would be laughing loudly at their expense if it hadn’t cost me a most of my valuable Saturday morning trying to get rid of it.

  16. L said on May 22, 2010 at 1:13 pm
    Reply

    Google has solidified itself as the search engine of choice,yesterday’s move might have amused some but accomplished nothing to gain acceptance in the professional world. I’d love to see the statistics on how many home pages were changed yesterday.

  17. J said on May 22, 2010 at 11:49 am
    Reply

    wow.

    all you who need tech support for this issue should apply for a computer license.

  18. Pep said on May 22, 2010 at 10:04 am
    Reply

    It works now, just because the security setting of flash, so no sound was played on my local computer.

  19. Pep said on May 22, 2010 at 9:24 am
    Reply

    Here is the online demo and source code of Google Pacman
    http://www.peptop.com/web/google-doodle-pac-man-source-code/

    However, I found the sound file (pacman10-hp-sound.swf) not worked.

  20. Diagoras said on May 22, 2010 at 8:50 am
    Reply

    Google should have:
    1. Given the user the option to turn off the volume within the game
    2. Had the volume off BY DEFAULT.
    Problem would have been avoided.

  21. PRO said on May 22, 2010 at 8:21 am
    Reply

    Change the address of your homepage (as I indicated in my post ‘May 2010 at 9:37 PM) – this custom solution works for all browsers, IE also!

    Or change Google address for Bing, Scroogle … Or try Yauba: http://in.yauba.com , which is very SAFE – does NOT redirects from viruses, aha! Like Proxify and Xerosurf.
    Make like me: I have Proxify https://proxify.co.uk/ , Xerosurf https://xerosurf.com/index.php?e=no_hotlink (yes, i notched: Remove scripts), Google custom, and Yauba.

    And Pacman/Google’s siren go to hell!..

    P.

  22. B. Moore said on May 22, 2010 at 7:19 am
    Reply

    WOW i think this is the most comments I have ever seen on a post here at ghacks!

    I can’t believe all this complaining over sounds from a game that would only last 24hrs plus all the crap about switching away from google is just eFFN HILARIOUS!

    I think more people got mad at google today then the amount that is mad over facebook stealing you info and destroying your privacy.

    Pretty SAD if you ask me….

    Thanks Google for letting me relive a childhood memory for a few hours today!

  23. Thank goodness said on May 22, 2010 at 7:10 am
    Reply

    Thank goodness,

    I THOUGHT MY COMPUTER WAS INFECTED BY AIDS

    LMAO

  24. EugeneM said on May 22, 2010 at 5:10 am
    Reply

    Personally, for my home computer, I’m going to try Bing (just like several of you suggest). I’ve heard good things about it. Google’s behavior here feels like an arrogance that perhaps comes naturally to a company that so utterly dominates its industry. Not sure if Bing is up to the job, but it’s sure worth a serious try now. Google is simply not to be trusted — at least at the present time — because we can’t be sure what they will do next to shock us. There seems to be something very wrong with the corporate culture there. They’re out of control, answerable to nobody.

  25. EugeneM said on May 22, 2010 at 5:04 am
    Reply

    Execs at my company — a sizeable media corporation — were furious that Google turned its homepage into a loud circus today — without giving people advance notice, or the option of opting out. So Google is being removed from our systems, being replaced by other search engines. I hope Google thought carefully about what they were doing with this annoying gag. Computers are not just playthings, Google. Businesses depend on them. Huge mistake, nerds.

  26. Jeremy said on May 22, 2010 at 4:22 am
    Reply

    Everyone who has responded by saying that they’re changing browsers – you are a bunch of stuffy doucheb@gs. Get over yourselves. Thanks.

  27. Mike said on May 22, 2010 at 1:40 am
    Reply

    A very cute idea. But poorly executed, so that I spent over an hour today trying to get rid of what I thought was a virus on my computer. Oh, wait–it was one.

    Google owes an apology to me and others. And isn’t this the stuff that class action lawsuits are made of? What would be happening now if it wasn’t Google behind this, but a 17-year-old high school student?

  28. John said on May 22, 2010 at 1:27 am
    Reply

    “she said “Let’s turn down the volume so it doesn’t disturb anyone”

    Duh! some of us would like to search for and sample Video, music and other media while we are surfing the net without pacman playing at the same time, so turning down the volume is not an option.

    Google could have changed this at any time, but they didn’t and instead decided to lie and blame the problem on something else.They could also have left the decision to play or not up to the user, not just have it come on by itself. I suppose it’s just an attention grabbing gimmick on their part.

    The link I posted above.

    http://www.google.ru

    to add to one’s blocked links is a Google link, not a Firefox or CoolPreviews link. This just shows what a bunch of self serving, dishonest prigs run that company. It’s not pacman that is the main problem it’s the Google liars.

  29. Bruce said on May 22, 2010 at 1:04 am
    Reply

    OK. The CoolPreviews update fixed it, but I’m still pissed. Kinda starting to like Bing. Never really tried it till today, after this PacMan horse s**t.

  30. Greg said on May 22, 2010 at 1:03 am
    Reply

    I disabled the Mozilla default plug-in. Solved the problem.

  31. CK said on May 22, 2010 at 1:02 am
    Reply

    Well, Google are you purposefully pissing people off or was this just someone’s error in judgement? Off came the Page, Off came the Default search engine. Maybe I will use you in the future for those out of the way stupid searches I do where I want over a million hits. But I can’t have professional systems playing stupid sounds making all my users think they have caught the latest virus, rootkit, or other malignant malware that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I must admit there was about 35 seconds of fright while we were scrambling to figure out where this s**t was coming from and how our corporate AV ware did not pick it up. Lucky for you task manager pointed right to the source of the noise, then it was off to kill all ie processes we found. You Fools.

    1. Sin said on May 22, 2010 at 1:12 am
      Reply

      If you were using Sym@ntec, you wouldnt have cought even the oldest virus.

  32. Sin said on May 22, 2010 at 12:45 am
    Reply

    Wow. If something bad were to really happen, what would you guys do?
    I haven’t had 1 single call about a problem with the pacman game on google. I showed it to a lady this afternoon and she said “Let’s turn down the volume so it doesnt disturb anyone” A plain jane typical user came up with that idea to fix the noise.
    Why on earth is everybody losing their mind over this?
    You could push out GPOs to change the home page till the Pac Mania
    is over. Or tell peeps to turn their volume down or just change home pages.
    It’s not a code blue.

    1. Anonymous said on May 22, 2010 at 12:54 am
      Reply

      how do i turn down the volume on the browser while im listening to music at the same time?

      1. Sin said on May 22, 2010 at 1:05 am
        Reply

        The newer OSes allow you to control the browsers volume. just click
        the little speaker in the tray and click mixer and adjust it.
        I’d suggest maybe clicking on Images or something before the game
        launches. That way no sound.

  33. Anonymous said on May 22, 2010 at 12:43 am
    Reply

    Google can go to hell. I know how to correct the bug, but ive had it with google.I’m never gonna use another google app again. Already cancelled Gmail and im gonna bing everything!!!

    My plug-ins isn’t the problem, google is.

  34. John said on May 22, 2010 at 12:35 am
    Reply

    “HNicolai says:
    May 22, 2010 at 12:00 am
    When does people understand that this is not Google’s fault? It’s a bug in CoolPreviews.
    How the hell should Google know, that CoolPreviews was buggy? I don’t use CoolPreviews and Google work perfect, no stupid sound effect (tested on Windows and Linux, with FF, Chrome and IE).”

    ——————————————————————————————-

    Duh! read the posts. Not everyone uses Firefox, CoolPreviews or any other add-ons-plug-ins. There are still some of us who know how to surf the net without anyone else holding our hands.

    The bug is in Google itself and they just want to blame someone else for their own ineptness.

    Fix for Vista: Copy this,

    http://www.google.ru

    Then in Internet Explorer click on TOOLS, then INTERNET OPTIONS, then SECURITY, Then RESTRICTED SITES and the click on the SITES button.

    and paste in the ADD THIS WEBSITE TO THE ZONE box and hit ADD and then Close.

  35. Denis said on May 22, 2010 at 12:23 am
    Reply

    A bunch of jerks. nicely said. they first apologize for collectiong your wifi signal snippets – they screwed up with this. Now (will they apologize ?) this freaking pac man with sound enabled by default.

  36. Jason said on May 22, 2010 at 12:18 am
    Reply

    I disabled cool preview/cooliris and it the sound went away. I downloaded the latest cool preview/cooliris from the link on this page and enabled cool preview and the sound was gone. I went to google.com and played for a second then changed pages and the sound did not follow. Thanks.

  37. J said on May 22, 2010 at 12:17 am
    Reply

    My wife called me this morning saying Firefox had a siren, which I heard and it was freaking annoying. But I updated CoolPreviews as was suggested above, and all is well. No more noise that won’t go away. Thanks!

  38. Frenchy said on May 22, 2010 at 12:12 am
    Reply

    I add I don’t have google.com as a homepage…

  39. Will Mauk said on May 22, 2010 at 12:11 am
    Reply

    I have bee an loyal Google user for several years. Due to this truly obnoxious noise I am
    switching to Bing, in all respects! Given what Google was doing with their street view cars (collecting private unprotected WiFi data) and now this, I have to say they are a bunch of jerks! Very disappointed in Google.

    Will Mauk
    [email protected] (for now)

  40. Frenchy said on May 22, 2010 at 12:10 am
    Reply

    I don’t care if it’s google’s fault or CoolPreviews’s.
    My problem is the following :

    1 – I use Safari
    2 – I use a PC (Windows XP)
    3 – the PacMan siren continues, even if I re-start my computer

    WHAT CAN I DO ?

    Thanx.

  41. Jenny@Cooliris said on May 22, 2010 at 12:08 am
    Reply

    Hi guys,

    CoolPreviews is a Firefox-only plugin, so you’re seeing the sound bug on other browsers, it is not a CoolPreviews issue. We have heard that people removing google.com as their homepage has helped solve certain cases, so you may want to give that a try if you’re on IE/Safari/Chrome.

    Thanks,
    Jenny@Cooliris

  42. HNicolai said on May 22, 2010 at 12:00 am
    Reply

    When does people understand that this is not Google’s fault? It’s a bug in CoolPreviews.
    How the hell should Google know, that CoolPreviews was buggy? I don’t use CoolPreviews and Google work perfect, no stupid sound effect (tested on Windows and Linux, with FF, Chrome and IE).

  43. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 11:58 pm
    Reply

    This is sooo stupid.
    Honestly, google is starting to piss me off. First the bullshit sidebars and now a loud fvcking noise I can’t get rid of.

    A+, Google!

  44. Hal (GT) said on May 21, 2010 at 11:49 pm
    Reply

    What a blast! I so fell out of my seat when this popped up. Love it!

  45. Rob Wolfe said on May 21, 2010 at 11:48 pm
    Reply

    For Safari, try Safari Adblock
    http://burgersoftware.com/en/safariadblock

    Add this to the filters under prefererences:
    http://www.google.com/logos/*

  46. Teresa said on May 21, 2010 at 11:42 pm
    Reply

    I have spent the entire day trying to discover what the hell was wrong with my computer. I have uninstalled and reinstalled attempting to find the problem. I have run my virus software and ad programs to no avail. I have wasted my entire day because Google for some reason thought this would be appreciated and fun. Well it has not been and now have changed my search engine to Yahoo. Now I have to try and unscrew the things that I screwed up. Thanks Google!

  47. John said on May 21, 2010 at 11:36 pm
    Reply

    Running Windows Vista with IE7, not one plug-in installed, but I still get this annoying, (I could care less about) pacman garbage. So it is not a Firefox + plugin problem, it’s just stupidity on Google’s part.

    Pacman was, still is and always will be for brainless fools.

  48. ppl said on May 21, 2010 at 11:35 pm
    Reply

    LOL I remember how ppl cried when Google changed font size (“I’ll never use Google again” etc). But this is actually annoying.

  49. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 11:27 pm
    Reply

    To the Network Admin Sin: Sorry pal, this was not just a cute little musical blast from the past. When all that was done it was stuck on siren mode and quite annoying for those folks who didn’t ask for it. It didn’t stop at all. Not even by disabling cool iris and preview.

    For folks who work in offices and used Google for a home page this was very unprofessional. it wasn’t a case where you could just change the page, it kept up on ANY page. Nor did it stop after the first cutsy beeps & blips.

    The only thing that worked was to remove Google as my home page. And just to make it clear…..GOOGLE IS NOT THE ONLY SEARCH ENGINE ON THE INTERNET.
    Oh yeah, and I am a happy person and normally take everything with a grain of salt. This was not a good move for Google.

  50. GrimFandango said on May 21, 2010 at 11:09 pm
    Reply

    i used the coolpreviews update, restarted firefox and problem fixed..

    hey people, google is not responsible for addons that you have in your browser that might cause issues. In a matter of hours, the folks who write the coolpreviews software caught on to the bug, made a fix and solved the problem.

    If your going to blame google for your lack of understanding in your browser, next time you click through the EULA when you install an addon, maybe you should try reading it. Google isnt at fault here, and the ones who were quickly fixed the issue with an update.

  51. Alec from CoolPreviews Team said on May 21, 2010 at 11:09 pm
    Reply

    SOLUTION

    Download the new fix for CoolPreviews v3.1.0521 to resolve the Pac-Man music issue.

    We just pushed the fix to Mozilla moments ago at 2PM Pacific Time. It may take a couple of hours for the Mozilla servers to display the new version on the Mozilla Addons Page.

    If you can’t, the same fix is now available on our website at http://www.coolpreviews.com.

    We apologize for this inconvenience. This is by far the weirdest bug we’ve ever encountered! Should we say, Happy Birthday, Pac-Man! You’ve certainly given us a good ride today.

    Best regards,
    Alec & The CoolPreviews Team

    1. Frenchy said on May 21, 2010 at 11:21 pm
      Reply

      What about solution for Safari on Windows XP ?

      1. Jenny@Cooliris said on May 22, 2010 at 12:10 am
        Reply

        Unfortunately, you have me at a loss there, since the CoolPreviews bug is a Firefox-only issue. You may want to make sure your homepage is not set to google.com – some people said this helped with the issue…

  52. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 11:08 pm
    Reply

    wow. yes, it’s annoying, but aside from the bug, it’s fantastic and creative! sometimes that effort goes awry, but hey, it’s just for today! Turning off Google forever would be like throwing away your computer just because it crashes once. I love that Google regularly publicizes anniversaries and events that would otherwise go unnoticed, and which are never meant to offend. I didn’t like the sound thing either, but I’m still a happy person. Happy Friday, folks.

  53. John said on May 21, 2010 at 11:06 pm
    Reply

    I disabled the CoolPreviews Add-On in Firefox for Mac. Stopped it right away. Damn, that was annoying!

  54. BrewskiBill said on May 21, 2010 at 11:05 pm
    Reply

    See http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/tenthings.html

    “we take great care to ensure that they will ultimately serve you, rather than our own internal goal or bottom line”

    Um, exactly how many google.com users want to be “served” by obnoxious sound effects?

    I’m not a big Microsoft fan, but if I have to choose between today’s google page & bing, well … A really BAD business decision to give people an excuse to go to the competition.

  55. Frenchy said on May 21, 2010 at 10:46 pm
    Reply

    Hello,

    I have the same sound bug on Safari browser… it there any way to fix it ?
    Thanx.

  56. Fish said on May 21, 2010 at 10:38 pm
    Reply

    For Firefox using AdblockPlus to block the logo will do the trick.
    The line needed (if you want to enter it manually) is:
    |http://www.google.com/logos/*

    As for Chrome, I have none of the mentioned extensions and still have the problem. Also chromes Adblock does not work to get rid of the problem.

  57. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 10:34 pm
    Reply

    just disable cooliris and cool preview

  58. tory said on May 21, 2010 at 10:31 pm
    Reply

    The pac man noise begins when my computer starts up, if i end task on iexplorer it goes away, but it happens everytime i start my computer. I didnt have those addons for mozilla, i got rid of mozilla as a whole. Still playing the sounds. HELP

  59. Rob Wolfe said on May 21, 2010 at 10:28 pm
    Reply

    Try IE7Pro at http://www.ie7pro.com/download.php
    Enable the flash blocker that’s built into it

  60. Clyde Machine said on May 21, 2010 at 10:28 pm
    Reply

    Thank you very much for this; just noticed it about ten minutes ago and was curious if I had some virus or something. Got it all fixed up! Thanks again!

  61. john Boyce said on May 21, 2010 at 10:26 pm
    Reply

    How do I stop the noise and activity of the pacman logo; I do not want the annoyance at all

    1. Sin said on May 21, 2010 at 10:28 pm
      Reply

      Turn down your speakers, Mute them, several ways to go about it.
      Go to m.google.com instead of the regular one.

  62. Sin said on May 21, 2010 at 10:07 pm
    Reply

    You people…I think it’s awesome that google did this. I’m the network admin and I was calling people about it telling them to go play it.
    Pull the sticks out of your ass and have fun and live a little.
    You dont have to uninstall every google product or say that you are because they have a cool playable game today.
    Chill the heck out. Geez.

  63. Bob said on May 21, 2010 at 10:07 pm
    Reply

    On Internet Explorer I experience the same problem. What to do???

  64. Rob Wolfe said on May 21, 2010 at 9:52 pm
    Reply

    I added FlashBlock to my Firefox add-ons. That stopped the Pac attack.

  65. alex said on May 21, 2010 at 9:46 pm
    Reply

    Thank you, a update to Cool Iris did it for me !
    This bug really sucks..

  66. Bob said on May 21, 2010 at 9:44 pm
    Reply

    This is really a BAD idea. Google should not pollute its clean search page with even the possibility of a sound. I am considering removing google as my home page

  67. Cliff said on May 21, 2010 at 9:42 pm
    Reply

    An absolute intrusive disgrace. I am changing my search engine now!!!

  68. Ciprian S said on May 21, 2010 at 9:42 pm
    Reply

    4 Firefox users:
    Tools >> Options
    “Content” tab
    press “Exceptions” button near the “Load images automatically” check-box
    Input http://www.google.com and hit “block”.

  69. Bruce said on May 21, 2010 at 9:40 pm
    Reply

    I fixed it by changing my homepage to something else besides Google. I guess from now on I will only use Google as a last resort. I have now switched to Bing as my primary search engine. I never thought I would see the day when I preferred something from Microsoft!

  70. PRO said on May 21, 2010 at 9:37 pm
    Reply

    This is my BEST SOLUTION here:

    Change your google address in your browser for this one:

    http://www.google.com/custom?hl=all -for English,

    or

    http://www.google.com/custom?hl=fr -if you are French …

    etc etc

    Yes hogsncat, this is the most crazy and unprofessional thing I found forever …

    Yours PRO. Yes, P.

  71. Krissi said on May 21, 2010 at 9:24 pm
    Reply

    I had to uninstall Cool Preview. Totally fixed it.

  72. hogsncat said on May 21, 2010 at 9:19 pm
    Reply

    THIS IS THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL THING i HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED ON THE INTERNET. This pac man and sirens noises in firefox is awful. I can not imagine anyone saying this is a good idea. They should be fired. I don’t care who’s anniversary it is.
    I too have business to do and there are enough problems with IE8 which is why I use firefox.. I have disabled cool iris and cool preview and closed and reopened browser and its still there. Yes I can lower my volume but I should not be having to adjust my machine due the stupidness and inconsiderate company that allowed this to happen. What is the matter with you people. I am going to uninstall google totally and use something else to search from now on. This is so unacceptable I could scream.

    1. James said on May 22, 2010 at 10:57 pm
      Reply

      Microsoft really did a great job with all of their marketing for Bing. They sure did plant a seed! All it takes is for the untamed and untrainable masses to get upset over something so ridiculously small that they finally have the excuse they’ve been looking for to switch over to Bing and abandon Google.

      Please tell us in a few months if the grass really is greener on the other side.

      James

  73. Mihai Banica said on May 21, 2010 at 9:18 pm
    Reply

    The CoolPreview made my speakers go crazy :)

  74. Teresa V. said on May 21, 2010 at 9:18 pm
    Reply

    Go to Tools -> Add-ons and then select Extensions. Disable CoolPreviews 3.0.1. That stopped it for me. So I’m guess it happens with any plugin that previews images in the FireFox browser

  75. B Skinner said on May 21, 2010 at 9:18 pm
    Reply

    Google pacman sound auto-loads on start up, even if no browser is open. Every time I start my computer the pacman sound auto-loads and cannot be shut off. Hot boot, cold boot, nothing helps. What makes this tragic is I took vacation time today to study for my FAA written exam tomorrow. I need the sound on so I can review the DVD lessons before the test. Google, your stupid little cuteness may cost me my pilots rating tomorrow. Thanks for that.

    I am not pleased, Bill Skinner

  76. Naseer said on May 21, 2010 at 9:14 pm
    Reply

    Just disable Cool Previews and Cooliris and the sound bug is gone ! …I was clueless before coming to this site thanks!

  77. Pejeno said on May 21, 2010 at 9:12 pm
    Reply

    I’m using Chrome 5 beta on Ubuntu 10.04 with a few extensions, and I didn’t experience it at all. Apparently only a few extensions on Firefox cause it.

  78. Luke said on May 21, 2010 at 9:08 pm
    Reply

    We all love Google but this I have to say is STUPID…

    Infect everyones computer with a stupid pac man noise.

    Whos idea was this???

    I run a business from my computer and i require sound, not helpful having

    some annoying noise belting out at you.

    I will never ever play pac man again. Not that I ever would have anyway.

    Not impressed. Definately Cool Previews though for me.

    Thanks for the tips guys, though my ears were going to start bleeding.

    Luke – Melbourne.

  79. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 9:05 pm
    Reply

    Disabling Cool Previews did the trick.

    Thanks for the tip.

  80. Jack said on May 21, 2010 at 9:02 pm
    Reply

    Bing is my new homepage. Who ever approved this at Google should
    be engaged in job hunting today. Imagine one of your customers hearing
    this game in the background. The Google bunch are probably outside
    playing Hackysack while this fallout continues.

  81. Brian said on May 21, 2010 at 8:58 pm
    Reply

    what the hell are google up to this pac man sound bug has buggered up my PC

    You twats what werwe you thinking

  82. Fábio Ayçar said on May 21, 2010 at 8:56 pm
    Reply

    This article solve this anoing problem!

    With your permition I’ll post this solution in portuguese on my blog, linking your post.

    1. Martin said on May 21, 2010 at 9:21 pm
      Reply

      sure you can do that.

  83. Jenny@Cooliris said on May 21, 2010 at 8:55 pm
    Reply

    Hey guys!

    We just released a blog post that explains the CoolPreviews/Pacman music bug – has got to one of the weirdest things we’ve ever seen. We just fixed it and released a new build at http://www.coolpreviews.com. We’re going to test it some more throughout the day to make sure it’s been fully fixed, and if all goes well, we’ll release the new CoolPreviews build to Mozilla Add-ons, so you should get the auto-update then. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.

    Please see the blog for more info:
    http://blog.cooliris.com/2010/05/21/weird-bug-coolpreviews-and-pacman-music/

    Thanks!
    Jenny

  84. cm said on May 21, 2010 at 8:49 pm
    Reply

    this is the MOST IRRITATING SH*T ever! I can’t stand the damn noise so it looks like I will NO longer google. I am going to have to use another search engine!

  85. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 8:43 pm
    Reply

    Easily corrected, but annoying.

    People who do not know how to actually *use* Google to search for the answer to why their machine is playing the Pac-man theme and sounds will be in suspense for a loong time (or at least until tomorrow). But they will have a catchy tune to keep them dancing, eh?

    (For example, I know people who cannot distinguish between a web browser and a web site. “But I’m using Firefox as my home page!!!” Ugggh….)

    Love Firefox, hope they do not take too much flak for Google’s lack of testing.

    Follow the previously given instructions here, and it will silence the beast.

    1. Anonymous said on May 22, 2010 at 12:51 am
      Reply

      dude, i have firefox as homepage on my internet explorer

  86. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 8:42 pm
    Reply

    disabled cool previews as well. It definitely works. It was very annoying. Thanks!

  87. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 8:36 pm
    Reply

    Google had to do this WHY?
    Now the whole world knows that it is the 30th Anniversary of Pac-Man. Whoopee.
    And it probably freaked out every single person, at least at first but maybe longer, as they ran virus and spyware programs, and searched the web.
    Thanks Google. Removing your products from my machines now, like many other people.

  88. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 8:36 pm
    Reply

    I disabled Cool Previews and that fixed the problem. I will just re-enable it tomorrow.

  89. Fred said on May 21, 2010 at 8:35 pm
    Reply

    I disabled Cool Previews and that seemed to fix the problem….. For now anyway

  90. Rick Sheldon said on May 21, 2010 at 8:34 pm
    Reply

    I thought here I go again.. will have to call my computer person…Ouch!
    I get a charge each time I call him with a problem…hope someone figures how to rid this noise blaster. Guess I will have to change browsers.

  91. box said on May 21, 2010 at 8:34 pm
    Reply

    disable coolpreviews and problem fixed

  92. Anonymous said on May 21, 2010 at 8:33 pm
    Reply

    It was cool Previews for me…

    1. Dorothy said on May 21, 2010 at 9:20 pm
      Reply

      I tried that too. Still got the sound

  93. John said on May 21, 2010 at 8:29 pm
    Reply

    Try removing COOL PREVIEWS if you can… Or change your search engine.

  94. sdreamer said on May 21, 2010 at 8:27 pm
    Reply

    Oh thank God it’s not just me. I was wondering where it was coming from. Initially, I thought it was coming from Ghostery, because the logo has a ghost from Pac-Man. But this clears it up.

    However, I still can’t fix it :(

  95. John said on May 21, 2010 at 8:25 pm
    Reply

    I work for a large defense supplier/ aviation firm. We fixed it by removing Google as a homepage or as the browser of choice for all company computers. The easiest fix really.

    1. dave603 said on May 22, 2010 at 10:34 pm
      Reply

      We did the same thing.
      I really wonder if whoever came up with htis annoying idea will be working at BING soon.
      That’s who I changed my home page to.

    2. Mike C said on May 21, 2010 at 11:20 pm
      Reply

      IE 8 – Tools > Manage Add-Ons > Shockwave Flash Object > Disable

      Silence! \o/

    3. Dorothy said on May 21, 2010 at 9:19 pm
      Reply

      that is not working for me. It starts on any page I go to and it is really pissing me off.

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