Drive Spinning While Surfing on Macbook?

[Frostytouch]

Today my macbook is making noises while I'm surfing?

It is either a drive spinning or a fan, sounds like when you burn a cd??

Is my macbook being remotely accessed, any ideas how I can check- I'm not a techy.

 

[TonyA]

This noise is normally generated when the Mac is doing something intensive e.g. graphics processing (video editing, or display video etc...), it may be the internal fan on the GPU (graphics card).

Is your MacBook on a "soft" surface when this is happening? On a carpet, or bed for instance.

A friend of mine has reduced this from happening by using a glass chopping board (bought from a £1 shop somewhere) to rest the MacBook on, and it stops it from over-heating.

There's an interesting article: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7152371 concerning the fan noise, this might help if its persistent.

 

[James.1]

When I'm on the sofa I use a dinner tray to rest my MacBook on, it has a beanie bag attached to the bottom of the tray so its really comfy.

Frostytouch, is your wireless encrypted? Do you have a CD/DVD in the drive as they occasionally spin up?

 

[Tenex]

Depending on your RAM and the number of apps open the MB could just be swapping to disk. Normal memory management and nothing especially to worry about. The fans on my MB always seem to be somewhat erratic. Once they didn't kick in until an indicated 91C!! Most often they will run at around 50C+ you should ensure there's adequate airspace around it when using it - a tray etc will be fine, but on your lap its likely to be overheating constantly.