Periodic buzzing/stutter in the sound (after downloading Minecraft)

Question

After downloading and playing Minecraft for the first time I now have an annoying stutter (sounds like a "metallic" buzz similar to Max Headroom) that occurs in all of my sound applications--Youtube videos, All internet flash videos, Livestream and even in my stored music files played offline.
I have an HP Probook 4530s running intel i3 core 2.10 GHz, Windows 7, 64 bit.
I tried updating Flash, but this didn't help--this was before I checked my stored audio files and thought it was strictly a Flash problem.
I'm not very tech savvy, so any help in layman's terms would be great....hoping I don't have to take this into the shop to be fixed.

Answer 1

Which version of Snow Leopard are you using?  The latest and last version is 10.6.8.  Your system information confirms you are using just 10.6. 
A few things you can try is - (1) Install the 10.6.8 combo update, go to Software Update to see if you need to update Garage Band and other software to go with the os update.  After the installations, repair permissions and restart your computer.
(2) /Library/Preferences - trash the com.apple.systemsound.plist file, restart your computer and empty the trash.  A new plist file will be recreated.
(3) Disconnect all peripherals from your computer. Boot from your install disc & run Repair Disk from the utility menu. To use the Install Mac OS X disc, insert the disc, and restart your computer while holding down the C key as it starts up.
Select your language.
Once on the desktop, select Utility in the menu bar.
Select Disk Utility.
Select the disk or volume in the list of disks and volumes, and then click First Aid.
Click Repair Disk.
Restart your computer when done.
Repair permissions after you reach the desktop-http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751 and restart your computer.