dae·mon 
(dēmən)
(dēmən)n.
1. Chiefly British Variant of demon.
2. Variant of daimon.
3. Computers A program or process that runs in the background but remains inactive until invoked.
[Sense 3, after MAXWELL'S DEMON (from the creature's constant monitoring of gas molecules going in and out of an aperture ).]
dae·monic (-mŏnĭk) adj.