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December 25th, 2001 19:00

Ghost Writing

I just received a new Dell Dimension 8200 computer. I was using it this morning to write an email with MS Outlook 2002 (XP). I sat there and watched words appear on my screen that I wasn't typing. I left the computer for a while and came back to find a page full of text that magically appeared. It wasn't happening really fast, more like someone was typing phases in a chat mode and I was intercepting them. They are actual words although they do not form coherent sentences, more like a series of phrases.

At one point in the "ghost" writing the typist seemed to be referring to the movie "Pearl Harbor".

This same situation also happened when I was within MS Excel. It seems like this is some sort of crosstalk but then I think I should get special characters or gibberish, not semi-coherent words/sentences.
I disconnected from the internet and still received the "ghost writing". I then disconnected the phone wire from the wall and still it continued. It seemed like a macro or something was running.
Does anyone know what is going on... how I can prevent this from happening?

Here is a sample of the "ghost" text:

They were a new law a new I-I I’m I may a new new Hampshire a a a two I a a a E. a a a a a a a man a a show a a five five a man new a five to and I a new they man new to the long they were manner way a new a a new a a a a a a very very boring yet a oh five am a a man who a new be a new a new a man a a man a a ten a man a they do a new they a that a 5:00 AM way of all a way live man in the go man file a a a man a file a woman the new law way you do you wish to receive via file of the new a a a a way to do to the new to the new to the a file the and, the new new one of the two and file new have a man and a major the a a way to this airline I do a a a a game show a the way the a new DNA two to oh no new one with power out a man a a new power are out the new way to his five a new server I he will be one where the. Now high and all the one to hear to do the freedom new be so they were to 95 to one of the main and to move in fall.




1.2K Posts

December 25th, 2001 20:00

Check to see if by chance the Speech Recognition is turned on.

Open up Word and click on tools then speech. You will have to look through the options to turn it off. I did a custom install of Word so I don't have the Speech option installed so cannot give more explicit instructions.

Ralph Caddell

Dimension 4100 800 Mhz
384 MB PC133 RAM
Dell M781S Monitor
48X CD
Ricoh MP9120A CD-R/RW/DVD
20 g Maxtor HD 7200 RPM
30 g Maxtor HD 7200 RPM
ATI All-In-Wonder 32mb
Logitech Optical Mouse Man Wheel
SB Live Value
Altec Lansing ACS-340 Speakers w/Subwoofer
Windows ME/Windows XP Home Dual Boot/Thinking about Linux
Panda Titanium Antivirus
Zone Alarm Pro Firewall
No Real Player Junk


Message Edited on 12/25/01 04:57PM by caddellwr

4 Posts

December 25th, 2001 20:00

Yes, I've done a virus check several times with Norton AntiVirus (ver. 8.00.58) that came with my new computer. All the Liveupdates are current. Nothing found.

80 Posts

December 25th, 2001 20:00

Try unplugging or muting your microphone. Don't laugh, try it.

1.2K Posts

December 25th, 2001 20:00

Sounds like a trojan or virus. Have you got the most up to date virus definitions and have you done a complete scan lately?

Ralph Caddell

Dimension 4100 800 Mhz
384 MB PC133 RAM
Dell M781S Monitor
48X CD
Ricoh MP9120A CD-R/RW/DVD
20 g Maxtor HD 7200 RPM
30 g Maxtor HD 7200 RPM
ATI All-In-Wonder 32mb
Logitech Optical Mouse Man Wheel
SB Live Value
Altec Lansing ACS-340 Speakers w/Subwoofer
Windows ME/Windows XP Home Dual Boot/Thinking about Linux
Panda Titanium Antivirus
Zone Alarm Pro Firewall
No Real Player Junk

4 Posts

December 25th, 2001 21:00

You're a genius! The speech recognition was turned on and was producing the same giberish I was was seeing in the other applications. I don't know how to use the speech recognition, yet, but I soon will. The e-mail (and other applications) must have been picking-up the sounds we were making and trying to convert them to text automatically without training. I will learn more quickly. Thank You...

32 Posts

December 25th, 2001 21:00

I agree with paa's post.....

It sounds like you've got the Speech Recognition application turned on and it's trying to type in what it's hearing from your microphone. Do you have a floating toolbar at the top of your screen with buttons for dictation, microphone, etc?

You can find the settings for this program under:

CONTROL PANEL | SPEECH

If you don't plan on using it, you can disable it.

GMan

Dimension 8200/P4/2.0GHz (w/ *quiet* NMG fan)
Dell BIOS A03
512MB RDRAM
60GB Maxtor 5T060H6 Hard Disk
LG CD-ROM CRD-8482B Drive
Samsung CDRW/DVD SM-308B Drive
Iomega ZIP 250 (Inboard)
NVIDIA 64MB DDR GeForce3 Ti 200 Graphics Adapter
HP ScanJet 5300C Flatbed USB Scanner
HP DeskJet 952C Color Printer
Philips PCVC720K USB Web Cam
Conexent HSF V92 56K RTAD Speakerphone PCI Modem
Dell M991 19" Trinitron Monitor
Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card
Harman/Kardon HK-395 Speakers w/ Sub Woofer
CNet PRO200WL PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Stargate DSL WAN Connection @ 1.5M/384K
Westell Wirespeed DSL Modem
Linksys EtherFast DSL Router (BEFSR41 V.2 / v1.40.2 Firmware)
Windows XP - Home Edition
ZoneAlarm 2.6.362
FilterGate 4.06

4 Posts

December 25th, 2001 21:00

I found out my speech recognition was turned-on and I had no clue! Thanks for your help...

1 Message

May 21st, 2002 03:00

I have the EXACT same problem and with TWO computers. I have a Dimension 8200 AND an Inspiron 8200. I have the problem on the internet with Hotmail, also in Outlook Express, Word, everywhere. It has been driving me nuts and it comes and goes.

Tom

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