ctfmon.exe - virus or not? how can I tell?

[kAtHicKa]

On a friend's computer, HJT scan turned up windows\system32\ctfmon.exe

McAfee scan shows no viruses. But at sysinfo.org, it lists ctfmon as a possible trojan. The file could be a legitimate Office XP file, but I'm fairly certain he has Office 97.

Any ideas about how to tell if the file is good or bad? I will have him try an online virus scan tomorrow.

Thanks ~ kAtH

[goldeagle2005]

On a friend's computer, HJT scan turned up windows\system32\ctfmon.exe

McAfee scan shows no viruses. But at sysinfo.org, it lists ctfmon as a possible trojan. The file could be a legitimate Office XP file, but I'm fairly certain he has Office 97.

Any ideas about how to tell if the file is good or bad? I will have him try an online virus scan tomorrow.

Thanks ~ kAtH

It;s a legitimate Office XP file. You could delete it from startup.

[aquiroma]

I erased ctfmon.exe from startup but as I work in my laptop, it start slowing down again. When I check Startup, ctfmon.exe is there again

[jholland1964]

I erased ctfmon.exe from startup but as I work in my laptop, it start slowing down again. When I check Startup, ctfmon.exe is there again

If you have Microsoft Office set to run at start up then it will show up if you have the Text Services and Speech applets are enabled. Not required if you don't need these features.

If you Don't need this then do the following:
To disable these (so this won't reappear on launching Office), go to Add/Remove Programs and double click on Office XP. Select Add or Remove features and click Next. Expand the "Office Shared Features" area as well as "Alternative User Input" under it. Select "Not Available" for Speech, click Update and follow the prompts.

[crunchie]

Or get ctfmonremover which can remove it for you.