Somehow the Microsoft Speech API server got turned on here on Earrame, my ThinkPad T21 (Pentium III-800). What's more, the interface to Internet Explorer and Outlook Express was also activated. The thing is, all that would normally appear are things I'm saying to people on the phone, to my grandmother, etc.
"... ... no yes yeah okay ... sure ..."
So now there are random words appearing in my "compose new message" windows and the edit boxes of Hotmail as if typed by a ghostly hand. For the record, I did not think my notebook had been possessed, but I did think it had been hacked. I started cudgelling my brain and thinking about various exploits I should be checking about with
Lovebird in a mirror, anyone?
Finally I noticed some words that looked just like the ones that Leonard Cohen was singing...
I'd like to say this is what clued me in, but it was actually IE hanging, whereupon I went to kill the process and noticed
sapisvr.exe
taking up a lot of CPU...--
Banazir