Ghost Music

Ghost Music: a reader asks…

When I woke up my PC this morning, it was playing music.  There was a window listing titles of songs, but when I closed the window, the music kept playing.  I wish I had taken a picture of the window, but I didn’t.  I would love to figure out which app it was (I actually like the music) and why it started overnight, but the only clue I see is “Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation” taking up some CPU cycles.  I don’t subscribe to any music apps, and this has never happened before.

I too wish you had taken a picture, it could be an important clue. If it happens again, whip out your smartphone and take a pic, or capture a screenshot on your computer. Anytime your computer does something unexpected, you want to collect as many clues as possible. The possible causes for mysterious music playing from your computer are legion, it could be a music app that’s working in the background and didn’t quit properly, it could be a bug in a program, or it could be evidence of unauthorized access to your computer. For example:

It’s possible you have the “Random Music Playing Virus” which was reported by EnigmaSoftware, makers of SpyHunter. SpyHunter has had a checkered past, and is not a recommended product. I continue to recommend these three programs to protect your Microsoft Windows PC:

1. Bitdefender Internet Security (now version 2017)
2. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium
3. Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit Premium

It’s also possible that your web browser is simply sitting on a web page that has a video or audio window where the webmaster has set it to auto-play the content. Sometimes these continue playing even when you switch to a different tab or even shut down the web browser, since they can kick off a separate process for handling the audio file from the web browser process. In this case, or any situation where you can’t specifically point to an app or program that’s causing the problem, you should restart your computer. If the problem re-occurs after restarting, then it’s time to do some scanning with your protection programs to see if you have a malware infection or a hacker has gained control of your computer.

You followed up your initial question with an update where you found your problem:

Referring to prior submission.  I had a moment of clarity and opened the volume mixer, and there it was: the Steam app, which I had left running overnight is the culprit.  When this first happened this morning I didn’t close the app because I was suspicious, but I couldn’t (and still can’t) find any reference to a distributed music app on their site.  I will follow up with their support desk.  🙂  Case solved.

That was a crucial clue! Steam has a distributed music player which they introduced about a year ago. This music player operates in the background and can either play your own music (if you direct it to your music files), or soundtracks from various games. If your keyboard has dedicated keys to control playback or even key combinations (such as Fn F5 for play/pause which I see on my Lenovo keyboard), then it can be easy to inadvertently start playback anytime Steam is running.