Check whether the ctfmon is a Virus, Trojan, Spyware or Adware

This post helps you to recognize whether the ctfmon.exe file is a virus, trojan, spyware, adware which you can remove, or a file belonging to a Windows system or an application you can trust.

ctfmon.exe is located in the folder C:\Windows\System32. Known file sizes on Windows XP are 15360 bytes (90% of all occurrence)

Here are the possibilities to be a dangerous file :

• ctfmon.exe is located in a subfolder of C:\Windows\System32 then the security rating is 69% dangerous. File Size can be (4952064 bytes (51% of all occurrence), 80896 bytes, 80384 bytes, 15360 bytes, 43520 bytes, 76800 bytes, 82036 bytes, 6212 bytes, 291908 bytes, 598528 bytes)
• ctfmon.exe is located in the folder C:\Windows then the security rating is 60% dangerous. File size can be (95744 bytes (33% of all occurrence), 33280 bytes, 2811732 bytes, 17211 bytes, 23552 bytes, 94208 bytes, 74950 bytes)
• ctfmon.exe is located in a subfolder of C:\Windows then the security rating is 28% dangerous. File size can be (5360 bytes (66% of all occurrence), 13312 bytes, 180224 bytes)
• ctfmon.exe is located in a subfolder of "C:\Program Files" then the security rating is 64% dangerous. File size can be (13312 bytes (25% of all occurrence), 80896 bytes, 20480 bytes, 291908 bytes, 8192 bytes, 13824 bytes, 892928 bytes)
• ctfmon.exe is located in a subfolder of "C:\Documents and Settings" then the security rating is 48% dangerous. File size can be (20480 bytes (60% of all occurrence), 49152 bytes, 90112 bytes)
• ctfmon.exe is located in a subfolder of C:\ then the security rating is 100% dangerous. File size can be (45568 bytes)
• ctfmon.exe is located in the folder C:\Windows\System32\drivers then the security rating is 74% dangerous. File size can be (569856 bytes)

Its not a core Windows file. The program has no visible window. ctfmon.exe is a Microsoft signed file. The program is loaded during the Windows boot process see Registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders