Since the release of IE7, I have noticed an increase in the number of posts in many 
forums complaining about unexplained slowness, hanging, and freezing, as well as 
many more complaints about high unexplained CPU readings.  IE7 activated a minor 
"Office" process that has to do with voice, handwriting, and language text switching 
called ctfmon.exe. This is the Microsoft info page on ctfmon:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=282599 
 I found it confusing and occult at best.  In plain language, ctfmon, once started 
always returns at boot even if disabled in msconfig unless removed according to the 
linked instructions OR by turning off "Advanced Text Services."  This choice does 
not prevent the other functions of ctfmon from functionality in Office when needed, 
but does stop this often resource demanding process from starting with Windows and 
running continuously.

Important note: The Windows ctfmon.exe lives in the system32 folder.  There are malwares 
that use the same name, notably ctfmon32.  These will be found elsewhere.  When in 
doubt-get help.


To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time:
Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Advanced,
 and check the box that says "Turn off advanced text services."

Many users report many fewer "unexplained" problems after taking this action, and 
it can be easily reversed by simply unchecking the same box.
Neurons that fire together, wire together.

(Posted with Opera)

Tip: Run a free scan for common Windows errors ad

re: ctfmon.exe Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 2:30 am Posted by Alan Masterman (364 messages posted) Thank you DocCrain. Like just about everyone else, I have my fair share of unexplained problems! I've never suspected Ctfmon in particular, but I will certainly be switching it off now. On Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 9:27 pm, DocCrain wrote: > > > > > > >Since the release of IE7, I have noticed an increase in the number of posts in many >forums complaining about unexplained slowness, hanging, and freezing, as well as >many more complaints about high unexplained CPU readings. IE7 activated a minor >"Office" process that has to do with voice, handwriting, and language text switching >called ctfmon.exe. This is the Microsoft info page on ctfmon: >http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=282599 > I found it confusing and occult at best. In plain language, ctfmon, once started >always returns at boot even if disabled in msconfig unless removed according to the >linked instructions OR by turning off "Advanced Text Services." This choice does >not prevent the other functions of ctfmon from functionality in Office when needed, >but does stop this often resource demanding process from starting with Windows and >running continuously. > >Important note: The Windows ctfmon.exe lives in the system32 folder. There are malwares >that use the same name, notably ctfmon32. These will be found elsewhere. When in >doubt-get help. > > >To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time: >Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Advanced, > and check the box that says "Turn off advanced text services." > >Many users report many fewer "unexplained" problems after taking this action, and >it can be easily reversed by simply unchecking the same box. > Neurons that fire together, wire together. > >(Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 4:52 am Posted by Blue (115 messages posted) I inadvertently installed IE7 through my update notification in the task tray I quickly did a System Restore to remove it. Dont believe microsoft when they say anything about a feature being Finale In my opinion IE7 is still in it's beta stage but microsoft needs more public input to stablize it. Therefore your woes help them to make corrections. Dont be duped into thinking all problems were solved with IE7. People went through the same birth pangs with sp1 and sp2. I perfer to wait after the bloodbath. I beta tested xp upon release and the nightmares were awesome. It was a send error recieve patch, create patch send patch deal But hey after 6 months I got a free version of xp and the cd is still installable. On Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 9:27 pm, DocCrain wrote: > > > > > > >Since the release of IE7, I have noticed an increase in the number of posts in many >forums complaining about unexplained slowness, hanging, and freezing, as well as >many more complaints about high unexplained CPU readings. IE7 activated a minor >"Office" process that has to do with voice, handwriting, and language text switching >called ctfmon.exe. This is the Microsoft info page on ctfmon: >http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=282599 > I found it confusing and occult at best. In plain language, ctfmon, once started >always returns at boot even if disabled in msconfig unless removed according to the >linked instructions OR by turning off "Advanced Text Services." This choice does >not prevent the other functions of ctfmon from functionality in Office when needed, >but does stop this often resource demanding process from starting with Windows and >running continuously. > >Important note: The Windows ctfmon.exe lives in the system32 folder. There are malwares >that use the same name, notably ctfmon32. These will be found elsewhere. When in >doubt-get help. > > >To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time: >Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Advanced, > and check the box that says "Turn off advanced text services." > >Many users report many fewer "unexplained" problems after taking this action, and >it can be easily reversed by simply unchecking the same box. > Neurons that fire together, wire together. > >(Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 5:58 am Posted by Blue (115 messages posted) Thanks Doc did as said and Office is really quick in responding. I've read about ctfmon before but never got around to killing it In 2 yrs I installed office 4 times with 3 crashes from Norton Internet Security, Roxio, and just deleted the ctfmon.exe where office wouldnt start. Great Help! On Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 9:27 pm, DocCrain wrote: > > > > > > >Since the release of IE7, I have noticed an increase in the number of posts in many >forums complaining about unexplained slowness, hanging, and freezing, as well as >many more complaints about high unexplained CPU readings. IE7 activated a minor >"Office" process that has to do with voice, handwriting, and language text switching >called ctfmon.exe. This is the Microsoft info page on ctfmon: >http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=282599 > I found it confusing and occult at best. In plain language, ctfmon, once started >always returns at boot even if disabled in msconfig unless removed according to the >linked instructions OR by turning off "Advanced Text Services." This choice does >not prevent the other functions of ctfmon from functionality in Office when needed, >but does stop this often resource demanding process from starting with Windows and >running continuously. > >Important note: The Windows ctfmon.exe lives in the system32 folder. There are malwares >that use the same name, notably ctfmon32. These will be found elsewhere. When in >doubt-get help. > > >To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time: >Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Advanced, > and check the box that says "Turn off advanced text services." > >Many users report many fewer "unexplained" problems after taking this action, and >it can be easily reversed by simply unchecking the same box. > Neurons that fire together, wire together. > >(Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Friday, January 5, 2007 at 5:20 am Posted by MaddMaxx (1988 messages posted) Many thanks! The program affected for me was Firefox, latest edition. On some sites, one being golfweb.com, Firefox would just shut down. With ctfmon disabled, that is cured. Who wudda thought. [Reply or follow-up to this message] CFT Loader error - RUNDLL error Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 2:35 am Posted by Anthony (2 messages posted) Hi DocCrain, Am constantly getting the CFT Loader error message, so I tried your suggestion to turn off cftmon.exe, but when I get to the languages dialogue box and click details, i get the following error message: RUNDLL An exception occurred while trying to run "shell32.dll,Control_runDLL input.dll" Have no idea what this means. Any suggestions from anyone? thanks Anthony On Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 9:27 pm, DocCrain wrote: > > > > > > >Since the release of IE7, I have noticed an increase in the number of posts in many >forums complaining about unexplained slowness, hanging, and freezing, as well as >many more complaints about high unexplained CPU readings. IE7 activated a minor >"Office" process that has to do with voice, handwriting, and language text switching >called ctfmon.exe. This is the Microsoft info page on ctfmon: >http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=282599 > I found it confusing and occult at best. In plain language, ctfmon, once started >always returns at boot even if disabled in msconfig unless removed according to the >linked instructions OR by turning off "Advanced Text Services." This choice does >not prevent the other functions of ctfmon from functionality in Office when needed, >but does stop this often resource demanding process from starting with Windows and >running continuously. > >Important note: The Windows ctfmon.exe lives in the system32 folder. There are malwares >that use the same name, notably ctfmon32. These will be found elsewhere. When in >doubt-get help. > > >To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time: >Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Advanced, > and check the box that says "Turn off advanced text services." > >Many users report many fewer "unexplained" problems after taking this action, and >it can be easily reversed by simply unchecking the same box. > Neurons that fire together, wire together. > >(Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: CFT Loader error - RUNDLL error Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 3:46 am Posted by DocCrain (786 messages posted) Anthony- This is all I could find: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887852/en-us Japanese or Korean? Might have a look at the referenced Registry entries anyway to see if yours conforms to the structure outlined in the article. This is the sort of thing for which I would probably contact Microsoft support. Provide your Windows key in your request for help. Belarc can quickly give you that: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html Neurons that fire together, wire together. (Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] CFTLoader/RUNDLL errors - problem solved! Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 6:34 pm Posted by Anthony (2 messages posted) Hi DocCrain, I don't have the Japanese or Korean version. Microsoft's help seems interesting reading though. However, this morning, I tried your initial suggestion again and it worked. Maybe because this time I didn't have any other applications running at the time (last night I had IE and MSWord open at the time when I was trying to use the details button)? Anyway problem seems to have resolved for now(touch wood). Thanks very much for your prompt and helpful advice. You rock. Cheers, Anthony [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: CFTLoader/RUNDLL errors - problem solved! Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 10:10 pm Posted by DocCrain (786 messages posted) Woo Hoo!!! Neurons that fire together, wire together. (Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Monday, February 12, 2007 at 5:19 pm Posted by Steve (21541 messages posted) ctfmon.exe, I think is a side effect, of IE7, WMP 11, and one of 18 non critical updates. That is as far as I narrowed it down to back in Nov-06. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Monday, February 12, 2007 at 6:31 pm Posted by Rich Kurtz (12246 messages posted) Many thanks for the excellent info. That bugger has annoyed me for awhile now but I never persued it. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 9:46 am Posted by elfingrey (1 messages posted) As Mr. Burns would say: Ehhhhxxxxcelllent! On Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 9:27 pm, DocCrain wrote: > > > > > > >Since the release of IE7, I have noticed an increase in the number of posts in many >forums complaining about unexplained slowness, hanging, and freezing, as well as >many more complaints about high unexplained CPU readings. IE7 activated a minor >"Office" process that has to do with voice, handwriting, and language text switching >called ctfmon.exe. This is the Microsoft info page on ctfmon: >http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=282599 > I found it confusing and occult at best. In plain language, ctfmon, once started >always returns at boot even if disabled in msconfig unless removed according to the >linked instructions OR by turning off "Advanced Text Services." This choice does >not prevent the other functions of ctfmon from functionality in Office when needed, >but does stop this often resource demanding process from starting with Windows and >running continuously. > >Important note: The Windows ctfmon.exe lives in the system32 folder. There are malwares >that use the same name, notably ctfmon32. These will be found elsewhere. When in >doubt-get help. > > >To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time: >Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Advanced, > and check the box that says "Turn off advanced text services." > >Many users report many fewer "unexplained" problems after taking this action, and >it can be easily reversed by simply unchecking the same box. > Neurons that fire together, wire together. > >(Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 1:48 pm Posted by jim harding (43 messages posted) I'd been trying all morning to get rid of ctfmon. Should have checked the forum earlier. It worked. Thanks On Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 9:27 pm, DocCrain wrote: > > > > > > >Since the release of IE7, I have noticed an increase in the number of posts in many >forums complaining about unexplained slowness, hanging, and freezing, as well as >many more complaints about high unexplained CPU readings. IE7 activated a minor >"Office" process that has to do with voice, handwriting, and language text switching >called ctfmon.exe. This is the Microsoft info page on ctfmon: >http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=282599 > I found it confusing and occult at best. In plain language, ctfmon, once started >always returns at boot even if disabled in msconfig unless removed according to the >linked instructions OR by turning off "Advanced Text Services." This choice does >not prevent the other functions of ctfmon from functionality in Office when needed, >but does stop this often resource demanding process from starting with Windows and >running continuously. > >Important note: The Windows ctfmon.exe lives in the system32 folder. There are malwares >that use the same name, notably ctfmon32. These will be found elsewhere. When in >doubt-get help. > > >To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time: >Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Advanced, > and check the box that says "Turn off advanced text services." > >Many users report many fewer "unexplained" problems after taking this action, and >it can be easily reversed by simply unchecking the same box. > Neurons that fire together, wire together. > >(Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Monday, June 18, 2007 at 6:47 pm Posted by TommyDee (1 messages posted) Thanks DocCrain!! ctfmon has been driving me crazy since I "tried" to delete it using "PC Utilities". I really appreciate your help! On Wednesday, January 3, 2007 at 9:27 pm, DocCrain wrote: > > > > > > >Since the release of IE7, I have noticed an increase in the number of posts in many >forums complaining about unexplained slowness, hanging, and freezing, as well as >many more complaints about high unexplained CPU readings. IE7 activated a minor >"Office" process that has to do with voice, handwriting, and language text switching >called ctfmon.exe. This is the Microsoft info page on ctfmon: >http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=282599 > I found it confusing and occult at best. In plain language, ctfmon, once started >always returns at boot even if disabled in msconfig unless removed according to the >linked instructions OR by turning off "Advanced Text Services." This choice does >not prevent the other functions of ctfmon from functionality in Office when needed, >but does stop this often resource demanding process from starting with Windows and >running continuously. > >Important note: The Windows ctfmon.exe lives in the system32 folder. There are malwares >that use the same name, notably ctfmon32. These will be found elsewhere. When in >doubt-get help. > > >To stop ctfmon from autostarting and running all the time: >Control Panel>Regional and Language Options>Languages>Details>Advanced, > and check the box that says "Turn off advanced text services." > >Many users report many fewer "unexplained" problems after taking this action, and >it can be easily reversed by simply unchecking the same box. > Neurons that fire together, wire together. > >(Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Monday, June 18, 2007 at 6:56 pm Posted by DocCrain (786 messages posted) Glad it helped! Pass it on. Neurons that fire together, wire together. (Posted with Opera) [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: ctfmon.exe Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 11:25 am Posted by logn (1 messages posted) I have done this in the control panel (never had office on my pc), deselected and restarted as advised. Cured the startup of ctfmon-issue. Thank you. However, a problem still lingers. Now any time a *.rtf document is started, this ctfmon.exe thinks it has to start up and police the (usually a) text document. How do I tell it not to do this? On this link, it says I have to delete registry entries (even though I have never installed an office program). I do you OpenOffice though. Is this a normal part of installing OpenOffice now? Or is it possibly installed via my printer or scanner's optical character recognition (OCR) software? [Currently using Canon's PIXMA MP530 to scan and print.] Reference: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823586 [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: CFTLoader/RUNDLL errors - problem solved! Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 8:42 am Posted by Gregor_Mike (2 messages posted) Hi, I have tried like what you have done before by shutting down all the running application like IE7 and office. However still the rundll error occured everytime I pressed the detail button. Can anybody resolve this problem. I just got the CFT Loader error today. Thank you On Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 6:34 pm, Anthony wrote: >Hi DocCrain, I don't have the Japanese or Korean version. Microsoft's help seems >interesting reading though. However, this morning, I tried your initial suggestion >again and it worked. Maybe because this time I didn't have any other applications >running at the time (last night I had IE and MSWord open at the time when I was trying >to use the details button)? Anyway problem seems to have resolved for now(touch wood). >Thanks very much for your prompt and helpful advice. You rock. Cheers, Anthony [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: CFTLoader/RUNDLL errors - problem solved! Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 1:50 pm Posted by DocCrain (786 messages posted) Logn- Sorry. Somehow I did not receive notification of your post. This link to Microsoft may provide help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282599 Gregor Mike- Sounds like you've primarily got a 'rundll' issue that is being triggered by the attempt to turn off ctfmon. I would work on that first. Neurons that fire together, wire together. (Posted with Opera) What I've learned the hard way [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: CFTLoader/RUNDLL errors - problem solved! Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 4:17 am Posted by Gregor_Mike (2 messages posted) Hi Doc, Great that you replied to my message, I have been reading how people in this forum managed to solved the CFT Loader error and I followed the trick that were mentioned on this forum but with no joy at all...should I uninstall the office 2003 SP3 and re-install it? Gregor Mike On Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 1:50 pm, DocCrain wrote: >Logn- Sorry. Somehow I did not receive notification of your post. >This link to Microsoft may provide help: >http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282599 > >Gregor Mike- Sounds like you've primarily got a 'rundll' issue that is being triggered >by the attempt to turn off ctfmon. I would work on that first. > Neurons that fire together, wire together. > >(Posted with Opera) >HREF="http://doc1101.vox.com/">What I've learned the hard way [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: CFTLoader/RUNDLL errors - problem solved! Monday, August 4, 2008 at 4:22 pm Posted by Gwen Nadin (1 messages posted) Hi I Am forever getting the CFT Loader error message, so I tried your suggestion to turn off cftmon.exe, but when I get to the languages dialogue box and click details, i get the following error message: RUNDLL An exception occurred while trying to run "shell32.dll,Control_runDLL input.dll" I have done the alternative text, deleted the entry from the registry, unchecked the entry in startup no oy. I note I have a Prefetch ctfmon.exe entry System32 entry system/dllcache entry 3 in total. Is any kind person able to suggest what I need to do now. I have done what was suggested on the Microsoft site. Ta Gwen [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows XP Discussion Forum