look, mum, no hands!

Category: Navigating Windows XP

Just created a desktop shortcut to the task manager -- bringing up the task manager has been another thing that I find time-consuming to do by voice.

The task manager lives in the following file path in Windows XP:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe

Create a desktop shortcut by right clicking on the taskmgr.exe file and selecting Send to > Desktop (create shortcut).

Category: Navigating Windows XP

I found that these default Windows/Office settings get in the way of using Dragon smoothly:

"Condensed" menus in Office programs
When I say "File" in Microsoft Word, it's much easier if i can see all of the options on the file menu straight away.
The fix: follow these instructions.

Long start menu shortcut names in Office 2003
I find I am not able to say "start Microsoft Word". Instead, I have to say "start Microsoft Office Word 2003".
The fix: navigate to the start menu shortcuts for office 2003 programs. On my computer, this is C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office. Rename each program shortcut to a short, unique name you'll remember. I renamed mine as "Word", "Excel", etc.

The ever-growing and shrinking system tray on the lower right
Perhaps this is just a personal preference, but I wanted to show all taskbar icons at all times (see step 17 of this article for instructions). Then I could easily access ones I did use, and delete unwanted icons. Doing so reduces the number of programs that launch on start-up. Or rather, reducing the list of start-up programs reduces the number of icons in the system tray.

By default Windows Explorer shows files and folders in tile view, and does not show hidden files
I like to view files as a list and view hidden files by default.

By default .rtf files created in Dragon pad will open in Word
The fix: it doesn't seem possible to associate the .rtf file type with Dragon pad. But one compromise is to select a .RTF file and associate it with WordPad.

Although not strictly a Windows setting, while doing the above I found it useful to create a Vocola command for inserting curly quotes, with thanks to the authors of this forum post.

1Category: Free & easy tools

11One of the things my to-do list was to get RoboForm up and running on my new laptop. Can't believe I waited so long! It really is such a timesaver for filling in text fields on websites.

RoboForm works in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and a couple of other browsers.

To configure RoboForm:

1. Follow the installation and set up instructions on the RoboForm site.
2. If all works well, it will prompt you to create a profile and ask to save information whenever you fill out Web forms.

You'll also need to:

• create a voice command for clicking on the [Passcards] button (fills in site-specific saved information)
• create a voice command for clicking on the [your name] button (fills in generic information based on your RoboForm profile).

To create Vocola commands

1. Open the browser/s you commonly use.
2. Say "edit voice commands".
3. Copy and paste the below commands into your command file.

Fill this in = SetMousePosition ( 1, 333, 119 ) ButtonClick(1,1) SetMousePosition ( 1, 333, 129) ButtonClick(1,1);
Generic fill in = SetMousePosition ( 1, 448, 119) ButtonClick(1,1) SetMousePosition ( 1, 448, 129) ButtonClick(1,1);

Note: The above mouse coordinates work for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox on my computer. You may have to adjust these.

Happy surfing!

1Category: Natlink/Vocola for beginners34

DNS 9 has fantastic accuracy. And the new Vocola installer worked like a charm. But both DNS 9 and Vocola have required a few "adjustments".

I, and other users, have experienced the below issues.

Problem	Solution
DNS 9 freezes in noisy environments	Install patch35 from Nuance website
Apparently the new NatLink/Vocola installer does not install over the old installation.	Uninstall existing NatLink/Vocola installation before using the new installer.
Some macros won't work.	Increase or insert additional "Wait" times. I now usually insert Wait(200) by default whenever a menu pops up/down or screen updates.
Apparently recursive grammars cause issues.	See this forum post36 for details.

If anyone would like to add to the above, please let me know.

My apologies for the lack of recent postings!

My priorities have been with other projects but there's lots more I want to achieve with this site.

At the very least, I have sorely missed not having an excuse to keep furthering my SR knowledge and there's a very large list of things I'm looking forward to trying out.

So please stay tuned to this space :-)