Thanks to a Facebook link my friend Bev Shaw posted, I recently found SimplyNoise.com. This site has a Flash-based 'White Noise' generator which actually goes beyond white noise, to also include pink and red/Brownian noise. You can find a link on Simply Noise to a wikipedia article on what white, pink and red noise are technically speaking. From a simple perspective, though, they can help drown out the noise of daily living to help you concentrate, relax, or just clear your mind. There are desktop programs which can do this, as well as inexpensive 'noise machines' you can purchase, but I've not found anything that I like as much as Simply Noise.

However, I don't like that it's a web page. I like to keep my desktop as clean as possible while working; particularly while working on the things where I would most want to have a white noise generator running. The fewer things are on my task bar, the better. It would be a hard habit for me to break to stop closing the last Firefox instance when I'm done checking e-mail, news, or what have you. The first couple weeks of using Simply Noise, I found this to be a problem.

The Solution

I put together a quick program which loads up any web page, and then allows it to be minimized to the notification area, rather than the task bar. The notification icon lets you access functionality such as pausing the sound, and changing settings. The program actually can be used for any web page which you would like to have loaded in the background, but not have any visible interface normally, aside from the notification icon. There is a simple configuration window which lets you choose the URL to load, choose the title of the application window, and choose whether the program automatically hides its main window when it has loaded the web page. You could keep it manual in case you would need to click something on the web page before the functionality there works. (Simply Noise automatically starts the noise with the last settings you used, provided your cookies storing the settings are still there.)

Requirements, Technobabble...

The program requires a Windows system with the .NET Framework version 2.0 or higher. The installer checks if you have the Framework, and lets you know how to get it if not. The program uses your installed Internet Explorer to load the web page you indicate, so your security and network settings for IE will apply. Flash player is, of course, also required to be installed, and enabled for IE. The Web Noise Listener program plays nice with Vista's user control and permissions system, once you have it installed. All settings are properly stored in per-user profile areas.

Get Web Noise Listener

Web Noise Listener can be distributed freely as the self-extracting installer, provided no alterations are made to it. It is provided 'as-is', with no claims of suitability for any purpose, promises that it won't make your dog pee on the floor, etc, etc. Feel free to Contact Me if you have any questions, though.

File: WebNoiseListener.zip