MacOS – Mac beeping every minute, exactly

I think this is a bug in Mac OS X and has something to do with the way the keyboard shortcuts for Spaces are processed. Try this:

• Make sure Spaces is turned on in the System Preferences with the standard 4 spaces layout, and standard key combination for switching to a space.
• Open a folder in the Finder.
• Press and hold CTRL, and press any of the number keys. If you press 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 0 first you will get a beep. Same if you press one of those keys again (still holding CTRL). If you then press 1, 2, 3 or 4, you will switch to that space number; or just stay in that space if you were already in it. If you then press any of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 0 again, it won't beep anymore.

If you simply turn off Spaces, the above won't happen and whatever order you press the keys in, they will continue to beep. If you change the number of spaces to only two, then 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 0 will give you a beep until you've pressed either 1 or 2. I don't know of an application in which those keys have a non-Spaces functionality and would do something useful other than beep, so I haven't been able to try what happens in such an application. In any case, I don't think you need to worry there's something wrong with your keyboard or the way you've configured the keyboard bindings; it seems to be a bug in Mac OS X.

Edit: Try the above in a new folder in which you've created folders named "1", "2" and so on. I find the Finder's behavior in this case somewhat strange: if you press CTRL-8, it will beep yet also switch the selection to the folder named "8". But again, pressing 5 through 9 will neither beep, nor change the selected folder once you've pressed any of 1 through 4.

The beeping you are hearing in this context is not because those key commands are mapped to something but quite the contrary because they are not.

Typing an unmapped key command will result in an audible bell.

As you note Command-Control-Right in results in an audible bell in Mail.app. You will also note that Command-N results in a new message.

So here's a proof to confirm my assertion:

• Open System Preferences > Keyboard
• Select Keyboard Shortcuts from the pillbox at the top
• From the menu at the right choose Application Shortcuts
• Click the small + sign at the bottom left of the right panel
• From the Application pull down select Mail
• In the Menu Title field type "New Message" (no quotes)
• Place your cursor in the Keyboard Shortcut field and type Command-Control-Right
• Click Add

Now return to Mail and type Command-Control-Right. A new message will be created but if you type Command-N you will hear the audible bell. This is because Command-N is no longer mapped to anything. We replaced it.

So when you hear the audible bell it often means that you are trying to do something that is not possible (i.e. typing a key command that has no meaning for the current application).