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How can I switch off ctfmon.exe in Windows 7?

Anonymous
2012-02-15T06:53:58+00:00

I use Dragon Naturally Speaking from Nuance and MS Office 2003.

My computer runs Win 7 Home Premium  (Acer laptop with i5 Intel Core bought six months ago especially for this purpose)

There is a compatability problem which has MS Word inserting arbitrary capital letters after the cursor, and arbitrarily changing initial letters in dictated sentences. Nuance say I have to switch off ctfmon.exe but I cannot find how to do this.

I've googled it, but all the instructions I have found (including on this site) seem to relate to another OS than the one I am using.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-02-16T08:47:03+00:00

    Thanks again. I hadn't realised there was a separate tab for speech recognition.

    However, these instructions (as at the URL you point to) don't help. On my machine the Runs Speech Recognition at startup box is unchecked, but there's still (apparently) something working in the background.

    What would happen if I simply erased ctfmon.exe from my hard drive?

    Since ctfmon.exe does not run on my machine, I cannot tell you how to prevent it from running. Erasing the file is an effective but rather brutal approach. You would need to do it like so in order to prevent Windows from restoring it automatically:

    1. Boot into Safe Mode.
    2. Log on under an admin account.
    3. Open a Command Prompt and type these commands:

    cd  /d  "%Windir%\System32"

    copy  ctfmon.exe  ctfmon.org

    md   ctfmon.exe

    This method lets you backtrack in case the absence of the original file causes a problem. Make sure to type the last command without delay. If you wait then Windows will restore the file by itself. Note also that Automatic Updates and Service Packs are likely to restore the file.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-02-16T08:30:49+00:00

    Thanks again. I hadn't realised there was a separate tab for speech recognition.

    However, these instructions (as at the URL you point to) don't help. On my machine the Runs Speech Recognition at startup box is unchecked, but there's still (apparently) something working in the background.

    What would happen if I simply erased ctfmon.exe from my hard drive?

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-02-15T11:56:23+00:00

    Under Windows 7 there is a separate item in the Control Panel for Speech Recognition.

    I also recommend you do a Google search using this search string:

    disable speech recognition in "windows 7"

    It turns up a number of promising links such as this one: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-desktop/how-to-disable-or-deactivate-windows-7-speech/93206856-de93-4525-9b2d-832ca7e6d9e6

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-02-15T11:32:25+00:00

    What instructions did Nuance issue to switch off ctfmon?

    What were the instructions that applied to other OSs?

    Thanks for responding.

    The instructions I received (which I've seen repeated elsewhere on the net - even in this forum):

    1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
    2. Click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
    3. Click Regional and Language Options.
    4. On the Languages tab, click Details.
    5. Under Installed services, click Speech Recognition, click Remove, and then click OK.
    6. Click OK to apply all the changes.

    These instructions do not seem applicable to my OS because:

    I do not see an item on the Control Panel "Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options"

    (I see "Clock Language and Region")

    Under this I do not see "Regional and Language Options"

    (I see "Region and Language")

    Under this I do not see a "Languages tab" with "Details"

    (I see Tabs: Format, Location, Keyboard and Languages, Administrative")

    If I look under the Keyboard and Languages tab I have the option to change my keyboard and/or my input language and to install additional languages - nothing else.

    I cannot find anywhere "Details", "Installed services" or "Speech Recognition".

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-02-15T07:05:57+00:00

    Nuance say I have to switch off ctfmon.exe but I cannot find how to do this.

    I've googled it, but all the instructions I have found (including on this site) seem to relate to another OS than the one I am using.

    What instructions did Nuance issue to switch off ctfmon?

    What were the instructions that applied to other OSs?

    0 comments