What is that sound my computer is making?

It could be a couple of different things. Some pieces in computers can make noise, some are supposed to, some do it from age. Since I am not able to listen to it for my self. I would tell you it is one of four different things. 1.)Hard drive. Some hard drives are noisy when searching and pulling data from the plates, this can be normal, or it can be signs of a bad thing in the near future, most likely normal though. 2.)Floppy drives. Sometimes if your computer is trying to find information on a floppy drive, the drive can start searching even if there is not a disk in the drive. This is more of a grr-grr-chik sound usually. 3.)A Cd Drive. same as above, if the drive is searching for data it will make sound. 4.)A fan, sometimes fan bushings start to wear and can cause the fan to rub against something, it is possibly a fan hitting something inside the box. Don't know how comfortable you are with taking the side panel off your computer, but if you do and let the computer run, you may find where the sound is coming from. Good luck

Hmmm, maybe its your fan, hard drive (old already but not really sure), or other parts of the pc due to dirt, or the power (due to processing)that it getting it into. Already had an experience with my tower pc which the cause was the power. Every time the computer process the data (download, go to other application, etc..) it uses more power to process it (especially the hard disk and fans). Better check if they are well maintained, always clean once's a week or twice for better performance. Or the pc it self is already old enough (old and already on it's end; better upgrade or buy a new one)

i agree with what computerjnkman said. and let me just add a few things that i experienced the tapping sound, if when you boot your pc and the sound starts with a slow 'beat' and speeds up, that would mean one of the fans is making the noise. but if the sound is coming from your HDD, it is normal. but it is also a sign of the HDD is ageing. if it gets more obvious, you'll notice slow processing speed and, possibly, frequent 'hangs' (where the pc just froze and does not respond to anything except the power button) it is time to replace the HDD there are other reasons for the tapping sound, but these two are the things that very common with computers that i work with

its actually by some computer part for sure as it is not from the speakers..so you need not worry but if you want to remove that sound i suggest you tighten up some parts. it can also be that there is something ON the laptop of yous which vibrates and makes sound so check from outside first. age is the main thing for these kinda things