How to . . . get rid of sounds on Facebook

Here are some tweaks you can make to your Facebook account.

1. If you don't use Facebook's chat function and want to remove the chat sidebar, go to the right-hand bottom of the page, mouse over the little sideways arrow and click "Hide sidebar." Click Chat to re-enable the sidebar.

2. Similarly, to remove the news ticker of your friends' latest actions, go to the upper right-hand side of the page, mouse over the little up arrow, then click "Hide ticker." Click "Show Ticker" to turn it back on.

3. To disable sound notifications, click the gear on the top right on the page and select Account Settings. On the page that opens, select Notifications in the left-hand column, and under "How You Get Notifications," click "On Facebook." Uncheck the box "Play a sound when each new notification is received," then click "Save Changes."