ctfmon?

Unknown

I noticed a task running that I haven't noticed before CTFMON.exe. I read that it was a Microsoft XP speech recognition task and to turn it off I had to select Not Available from the Office XP install thing which I did. Then later I noticed that the task was running again and I realized that everytime I launched internet explorer the CTFMON.exe would start running again, is that supposed to happen?

Spinner

That's a perfectly legitimate service. Fear not. I think that is supposed to happen yes. You could turn it off, but it might have an adverse effect on the functionality of your Office installation and/or other functionality Office adds to other Microsoft Windows based applications and programs you may or may not use.

[CTFMON is] a service that handles the Alternative User Input Text Processor (TIP) and the Microsoft Office Language Bar. It provides text input support for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, keyboard, translation, and other alternative user input technologies.