I was just surfing the net on Win XP today, and suddenly noticed a big slow down in the computer and my whole system came to a complete halt, no matter what program I decided to run. So I opened task manager to notice this file sucking at around 90% of the CPU resources and taking 28MB of memory, the file name is Sapisrv.exe. Does anyone have any idea what this is, or where it comes from because I ended task and it opened up automatically for about 8 times and now it has stopped. And hence the Idle CPU is around 98%. It has happened to me once before and I am suspicious that it might be a program used for a hack or something like that. I am running Win XP on a AMD 1.2GHz with 512MB DDR memory. I am also running Norton Antivirus and Norton Firewall both with full updates, and also Win XP has full updates too. Andy

I can't help but I will say that I have the exact same problem except I havent noticed the file you mention. system idle goes to 98% and I'm left running on a 486.. you can still save things right? just at a very slow speed. When you try to shut down it just fails or takes 20min... I'm not conected to the net directly so i don't think its a hack problem but it is bugging. I had thought it was an overheat problem. but as the computer can then be turned back on and functions normally I don't think its this. Do you use alot of high end programs at the same time or have a TV card- I think there may be a problem with Sound blaster cards aswell - the digital signiture does not seem that good! If you have any luck please let us now.

Sapisrv.exe is part of Microsoft's speech recognition software. I have the same problem, and haven't found a solution yet. It is NOT a virus, or a trojan, but I am running a P4 2.2ghz Windows XP professional 512mb DDR ram, and have the same problem. I just end the process, when it starts sucking 90% of my CPU!