penservice.exe - Tablet PC Pen Input Tasks
Tablet PCs make use of special hardware and drivers that permit the use of a stylus for user data input. The OS must make a facility available to monitor and manage events, such as a user writing with the stylus or touching a box on a Web form, that occur via these special devices. This subsystem acts as the replacement for the OS' traditional input methods, such as the keyboard and mouse.This is where the penservice.exe process comes in. It, along with the wisptis.exe process (short for "Windows Ink Services Platform Tablet Input Subsystem"), is responsible for managing pen-style input tasks on tablet PCs. If this service is stopped or fails to activate at boot time, user input via the tablet will stop working. The penservice.exe and wisptis.exe processes are installed by Windows Journal Viewer or Office 2003.
If you own a tablet PC, this service is essential to proper functioning of the pen service. If you do not own a tablet, there's no reason for the penservice.exe or wisptis.exe processes to exist. The only way these files should even be installed on a non-tablet system is if a tablet PC's system disk was cloned and installed on a different machine, or a malware application was masquerading as a legitimate Windows service. This service can be shut down via Regional Settings -> Language -> Details, by disabling Advanced Text Services.
The official, legitimate copy of penservice.exe is always installed in c:\windows\system32. If you find copies of this file or wisptis.exe in other locations on your system, it may mean it's been infected with some form of malware.
As always, if you suspect a malware infestation you should download and run a current copy of an antivirus/malware scanner in order to isolate and remove the offending application. Be sure to obtain the most recent definition files, since these are critical to the removal of current malware variants.
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