Windows 7 - Using Speech Recognition

Before you run out to buy Dragon Speech or a similar software program, use the Speech Recognition software that has been built into all Windows Operating Systems, since Windows XP.  Voice/Speech Recognition is becoming common today in so many devices including iPhone, iPad, iPods, Android tablets and smartphones, computers, automobiles and other devices... So the more comfortable you get with it, the more you will use it with all of your devices...

If you haven't played with "Speech Recognition" yet, and are now using Windows 7, give it a try.  The program in Windows 7 is quite powerful and allows you to tell your computer what to do and you can also use it to dictate text into a document. 

Speech Recognition uses a special voice profile to recognize your voice and spoken commands, so the more you use Speech Recognition, the more detailed your voice profile becomes, which will improve your PC (and other mobile devices) abilities to understand you

As with so many things we do with the computer, using the speech recognition to give commands is just another way, in addition to using the mouse and/or the keyboard and/or

keypad.. 

Before you set up your Speech Recognition, make sure you've plugged a microphone into your PC so these steps will work.. Personally I think using a headset microphone; which is less likely to pick up background noise, is best when I'm using any speech recognition program to give commands or dictate into documents, doing voice recordings for slide shows and movies and using other programs such as Skype..

In Windows 7, click the Start Button

• Type Speech in the search box of the start menu
• Choose Windows Speech Recognition from the menu
• Note-if this is the first time you've used it, the Set-Up Speech Recognition Wizard will open and walk you thru setting up the system & settings. 
•  When you are in settings, it gives you the option to "Train your computer to better understand you" that helps it to recognize your voice.. 
•  In the Set-up, Windows also offers a tutorial that will help familiarize you with how to give commands and use the software - Take the tutorial - it really helps... 
• As with any new program or piece of hardware you are learning, remember to also use www.yotube.com, to find additional tutorials that will help you master just about anything..

Be patient and practice - like so many other things, the more you do it, the easier it will become and the more comfortable you will be...

How to uninstall software programs from your computer

If all you are trying to do is remove an icon from your desktop, but want to leave the software program on your computer, simply hover your mouse over the icon on your desktop – right click and choose “delete”  With many software programs, you will receive a quick message dialog box reminding you that you are only deleting the icon and that if you want to actually remove the software, this must be done from the control panel.

Why would you remove a software program from your computer..  Programs we never use can take up extra storage space and can slow our computer’s down – or maybe you are changing Anti-Virus providers – remember you can only have one Anti-Virus program on your computer at a time, so you must remove one before you add a new one…

The Windows operating system has a program utility that makes it easy to uninstall unused or unwanted and it’s easy to get to through your Control Panel. 

1. Left Click the "Start" button on your taskbar.
2. When the Start menu appears, left Click "Control Panel."
3. When the Control Panel appears – left click “Add/Remove Programs”
4. It will take a moment and then list all software programs on your computer
5. Scroll thru the list to find the software program you want to install
6. Under each program on the right side, you will see a "Uninstall” button.
7. Left click on the “Uninstall” button and it will remove the program and once removed it will no longer appear on the program list
8. Once removed it will also remove icons from desktop, quick launch and taskbar)
9. Repeat process for any other programs you want to uninstall. 

Reminders…

Some programs include an option to change or repair the program in addition to uninstalling it, but many simply offer the option to uninstall. To change a program, click Change or Repair.

Some programs might ask you to enter an administrator password or confirmation before this can be done, so you’ll need to type the password or provide confirmation.

Voice/Speech Recognition Software – Part 2 of 2

~ Following is continued from our post on Monday January 23, 2012...

Voice recognition Software has come along way and with every new edition improvements are made, but remember that using Voice Recognition software is very different from speaking to real people, when they can usually understand you from the context and environment even if you whisper, shout, or talk quickly or slowly.

According to “How Stuff Works.com” website, Voice Recognition Software understands words better when you speak in a predictable manner and also recommends: 

• Speak in a consistent, level tone. If you speak too loudly or too softly, the computer may not recognize what you said
• Use a consistent rate without speeding up and slowing down
• Speak without pausing between words; a phrase is easier for the computer to interpret than just one word. For example, the computer has a hard time understanding phrases such as "This (pause) is (pause) another (pause) example (pause) sentence."
• Start by working in a quiet environment so that the computer hears you instead of the sounds around you, and use a good quality microphone. Keep the microphone in the same position; try not to move it around after it is adjusted
• Train your computer to recognize your voice by reading aloud the prepared training text in the Voice Training Wizard. Additional training increases speech recognition accuracy
• As you dictate, do not be concerned if you do not immediately see your words on the screen. Continue speaking and pause at the end of your thought. The computer displays the recognized text after it finishes processing your voice
• Pronounce words clearly, but don’t separate each syllable in a word. For example, if you sound out each syllable in "ex-am-ple” which will cause the computer to not recognize what you said 

Voice/Speech Recognition Software – Part 1 of 2

Voice recognition software, also called speech recognition software, has been around for quite sometime and used by many businesses. But it’s now becoming popular for home use as well. Before you run out and buy a Voice Recognition Software program, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking Premium Edition or Home Edition; Dragon MAC for Mac Users, or others like Talking Desktop, did you know that Windows, XP, Vista and 7 all have a built-in speech/voice recognition software programs?? You might want to try one of these free first to test the waters and then if you want to continue, then make a purchase if you feel you need more features..

Voice recognition software – whether it is built into your Windows Operating System, or a software program such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, you purchased, allows the user to convert spoken words to written text and can work with other software application programs such as Word Pad, Word, Word Perfect and others...


In addition to the software program, you will need two things:
1) a microphone or some other sound input device to receive the sound and I’d recommend a high quality microphone with noise filters built in – if not the recognition rate may be unacceptable and not work as well as you’d like… and
2) most importantly “patience”

First, whether you use the software program built into your Windows operating system, or a purchased software program, they all have a Voice Training Wizard that will guide you through the process, recommends the best position to place the microphone, and allows you to test it for optimal results.

Second, being patient is crucial. Once your microphone and software are ready, you have to “train the software for your speaking style” and the Wizard will walk you through doing this, so that it can recognize background noises such as a fan, air conditioning, or other sounds and most importantly, it needs to adapt to your accents, pronunciations phrases and other voice related patterns and phrases. And believe me that takes time and lots of patience.

~ This post will be continued on Thursday, January 26, 2012

What is Adobe Flash Player and do I need it on my computer?

Yes – absolutely. In essence, this is a computer language which is used when writing/creating many games, animations, and other media content on the internet – so in order for us to be able to view them, as they are meant to be seen, we have to have Adobe Flash Player on our computers or we aren’t able to view them. It’s also advisable to allow the latest update when it prompts you to do so…

Notes:

• An early competitive version of Flash was Macromedia Flash,but that company was acquired By Adobe in a merger finalized in December 2005-so we now only use Adobe Flash Player.



• Some games also use a program called “shockwave” so it’s possible that you might also be prompted to have this plug-in on your computer also in order to play certain games…
  

Websites to find new font style designs - free

What’s a font you ask?? Fonts are the design style of what we type – letters, numbers, characters… and there are countless design styles to choose from and new ones being developed as we speak…

Over the years many of us have made the mistake of “purchasing” software so that we could add more font design style choices to our computers – or we have downloaded thousands and then wondered why our word processing program was running so slowly….

Personally I enjoy using different fonts when I’m creating maybe a new invitation or writing a story or new flyer or designing a new power point presentation… Instead of installing all of them to my computer, I have a list of websites in my favorites – in a folder named free fonts – that I then visit when I’m looking for a new font style design… here they are in alphabetical order.. once I find a few that I’d like to try, then I download them…

http://www.ddfont.com/

http://www.fonts.com/

http://www.fonts500.com/

http://www.searchfreefonts.com/

http://www.typenow.net/

What is OCR software

Typically when we “scan” something into our computer – whether it is a photo or a document, the end results is a “digital picture” of whatever we scanned. But, OCR software (OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition) allows us to EDIT what we have scanned.

Simply “scan” your document into your computer and the OCR software converts it to an "editable file" that can be edited in most word processing and spreadsheet software programs. What types of documents can you scan? Basically any printed material –such as notes, letters, documents, spreadsheets, magazine or newspaper articles, books etc.

The quality of the OCR conversion process will largely depend on the quality of the scanned image and the clarity of the characters of that image.

Today – many of the printers for the home market, especially “all-in-one” multi function printers and “photosmart” printers include OCR software capabilities included with the software or you can visit the manufacturer’s website and download it for free.

So your current printer maybe OCR ready- not sure? Once again, go to the manufacturer’s website – put in your model # and it will give you the specifics on if the OCR software is available, if so how to download and use the OCR software.

OCR software is a real timesaver so we don't have to retype documents to be able to edit them. OCR software is also available as “freeware” and for purchase if it doesn’t come with your printer…

DOWNLOADING PICASA 3

PICASA (a Google product) is a FREE award-winning software used for working with photos, on your PC, from emails, disk, CD-Rom and digital cameras.

**PICASA’S NEW VERSION 3, can only be used with Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. If you are using an older “Operating System” such as Windows 98, 2000, ME, then you will continue to use Picasa Version 2

Downloading Picasa to your computer is quick and easy and again FREE - Just open your Internet and on the Internet address toolbar, type: http://www.picasa.com/

• Click on the button that says “DOWNLOAD PICASA”
• This brings you to a dialog box where you must choose whether to “RUN” or “Save” the file, Click “RUN”.
• Depending on your Internet service speed, this may take a few minutes
• Another dialog box will appear asking: Do you want to RUN the software? Click RUN
• The software should be installed on your computer. If you’re asked other questions, respond “yes” or “OK”. Picasa 3 will be installed on your PC
• Picasa then will search over your whole computer for pictures or merely look in the “MYPICTURES” directory. I prefer the MYPICTURES directory only, but you can choose whatever option you wish
• The Picasa Icon is now created and on your desktop (and you can add it to your Quick Launch)
• The Picasa Media Detector should be installed on the system tray in the taskbar toolbar. This is necessary so that Picasa 3 can add any new photos that are added to the MyPictures folder.

Picasa software allow you to:

• Create quick & easy photo Slide Shows- with or without music
• Easy to view Photo Library
• Numerous quick & easy photo editing tools including red eye reduction, cropping and changing photos form color to black & white or sepia
• Photos can be sorted by folder or timeline
• Great tools for printing - wallet, 4 x 6 or full page
• You can convert you photos to movies with sound & motion
• You can easily upload your photos to an online web album for easy sharing
• Or identify all "faces" in your photos for easy sorting-called tagging
• and much much more...

Once you have download the free software, like all Google products, there are great tutorials which will help you learn to use the software - or join us in class...

BACKING UP YOUR COMPUTER AND INFO

It's very important to back up your computer as well as your important files - documents, photos, music, videos and movies - often. Today more and more of what we do is on our computers and we want to be sure we don't "lose it all" if our computers crashed...

When you back up your files - you can use a CD, Large Flash Drive, Portable or External Hard Drive or a company such as Carbonite.com; Mozy.com or your Internet provider (many offer back-up services)

Backing up on a regular basis is critical – especially for those of us with older computers or if you have large document folders, photo, music or other media files… If you use one of the services – remember to ask how much space is included and what the charges are for additional storage (personally that’s why I like carbonite.com-it offers unlimited)

External Hard Drives-Such as Office Depots “Clickfree" HD1035 Backup External USB Hard Drive, 1000GB”, which Automatically backs up your computer without any confusing software to install - These allow you to back up your computer in just 1 step ~ No software to install or set up and incremental backup lets you save only the files changed since the previous backup – About $135.00

Or use a company, such as Carbonite.com,which is easy and has great advantages..
Once you install Carbonite, future back-ups are done each time you are on your PC/Internet, so you can relax and you can Restore lost files easily and you will have Remote Access to the data on your computer...

What Carbonite is – and what it isn’t: Carbonite offers unlimited backup of the irreplaceable files on your computer. That said, your Carbonite subscription does NOT include some services often confused with backup:

• Online/offsite file storage: Carbonite is NOT a place to move files from your hard drive, to free up space on your hard drive. If you remove any file from your hard drive, they wait 30 days for you to recover it, and then they delete that file from their servers also.
• Program or system backup: Carbonite backs up the irreplaceable files on your computer – user-generated content such as photos, documents, music, etc. They do not back up software programs, temporary files or system files.
• External Hard Drive backup: Carbonite consumer product does not allow you to back up your external hard drive, unless you purchase their external hard drive support with as a small business.
• Archiving: Carbonite does not keep every version of every file you’ve ever created. Their PC product offers versioning, which allows you to recover some versions of your files, going back up to 90 days
• Carbonite costs $54.95 per year-check them out at http://www.carbonite.com/

Printer "Driver" Problems

If the printer works but spews strange characters or it appears as if the PC and printer creates errors, it may be a printer driver problem. When a printer acts up and there is no hardware problem (such as a paper jam) the solution is usually driver-related.

The driver is the “software” that allows the computer and printer to "talk" to each other and work together... Often if a printer has worked previously, but won't work with a newly installed program, it’s a driver problem. To remedy this:

• Re-Download the driver from the printer maker's Web site. Drivers can be found under or with the "support" or “driver download” area of the manufacturer's website. To be honest - consider doing this twice a year to stay current...
• If you have an inkjet printer and you get smudged or blurry images, you might want to look up the utility on the printer that cleans and or aligns the printer heads. Most inkjet printers either have software that can start this process or have a setting on the printer itself that can kick start it.
• If all of these solutions fail, you might want to search the manufacturer's support area for printer issues. Often there will be bulletins issued on how to fix newly discovered bugs.
• If you have a scanner and printer and experience printing problems take heart, this is easily solvable. Detach both devices and remove the software and drivers for both devices. Then reinstall the printer first and then add the scanner second.

Still not working - go to http://www.google.com/ or http://www.ask.com/ and search for the “printer” + “problem” you’ll be amazed at the solutions that will be offered, which will usually correct the problem…

If none of this works-Visit the printer manufacturer’s website or Call the printer manufacturer’s 1-800 number (on their website).

Be sure you have the make, model and serial # of your printer, your computer, know your operating system (Windows 98, XP, Vista, Windows 7 - 32 bit or 64 bit) and any warranty information & make the call from the desk where the printer is installed so you can work with them.

WHAT IS A MEDIA PLAYER?

Basically it is “application software” that we use to play and manage all of our music and video files. By manage, it means that we can format music & video files to various formats; rip and burn our music & video files (so that you can transfer them to & from CD and or DVD) and many offer “visual effects” so when we listen to the music there are various patterns that will flash on our monitors (similar to screen savers).

Microsoft Operating Systems include a media player “Windows Media Player” and many people use iTunes Media Player so that they can synchronize their various iPod devices…

But personally – my favorite is VLC Media Player – which is also free… VLC works on most Operating systems including Windows 98 thru to Windows 7); and it can be installed and run from a flash drive and portable hard drive. I also think it’s one of the easiest media players to use to convert music and video formats and you can take screenshots of video’s you are watching which is a feature many people like… to download go to:

www.vlcmediaplayer.org or www.videolan.org

There are many others and it helps to check out these out at some of the “freeware” websites, such as:

www.download.cnet.com
www.freewarefiles.com
www.freeware-guide.com
www.gofree.com

What is Picasa Movie Maker

Picasa is a free “Google” digital photo editing software for anyone who has a PC or MAC. For anyone using Picasa Version 3+, there is a wonderful feature “movie maker” that allows us to quickly and easily convert any photo folder on Picasa into a slideshow/movie..

Picasa software is easy to use, but a few tips on using Movie Maker..

Once the Picasa folder is highlighted, simply choose the “CREATE MOVIE” icon which is:

• located above every Picasa album and also located in the action bar at the bottom of the Picasa screen

Once this icon is selected the movie is created and you can now make other enhancements to personalize your movie...

You can enhance your movie by uploading a song - an audio MP3.
When you add music, you will have several options as to how the music will work with your photos - If you choose ‘fit photos into audio’, Picasa will space your photos to fill the length of the song you have chosen

You can choose various transitions, how your slides will appear on the screen, such as “PAN & ZOOM” seems to be the most popular

You can also rearrange your photos, you can add captions, you can add slides that contain just text AND throughout the process, you can “view” your movie to see how it looks and sounds…

When you are finished you can save it to the computer, send via email, share with Skype, save to your Picasa web albums for easy sharing, or export/upload directly to YouTube or other social networking sites…

Your finished movie is saved and will then be uploaded as a.mov file.

And you can re-edit the movie later if we want to change –remove or add photos..

Try it today – go to www.picasa.com

WHAT IS VOICE RECOGNITION SOFTWARE…

Voice recognition software, is application software that converts speech to text and it has reached the point where some say you can actually navigate your computer and write documents faster than you could with a keyboard and a mouse – some of the popular software on the market are..

Dragon Naturally Speaking has 2 versions

• 11 Preferred is almost universally regarded in reviews as the best voice recognition software, with potential for 97% accuracy-cost about $80
• 11 Standard edition works with AOL Instant Messenger, MS Word, Internet Explorer and WordPerfect, but not Excel and this doesn’t support portable voice recorders-cost $45

Windows Vista and Windows 7 include Windows Speech Recognition at no additional charge. Though the program was originally rife with issues, it now performs extremely well -- almost as well as Dragon Naturally Speaking

Mac Speech Dictate gets top review as the best speech recognition choice for those with Apple Mac operating systems about $150

How to convert older Office documents (97-2003) to Office 2007 Format

Office 2007 applications such as Word and Excel can open a spreadsheet or a document, in any of the older Office Word, Excel or other application software versions. When they open the older versions, they are opened in the Office 2007 Compatibility Mode (which you will see is noted in the title bar on the top of your screen) when you open the document.
If you want to use the new features available in your Office 2007 Software Application program on the “older document” you will first have to convert older Office documents to Office 2007 format.

The feature to covert older Office documents to Office 2007 format is very useful – one example s that now in Excel 2007 you can use 1.1 million rows – whereas the older versions of Excel only offered you sixty-five thousand rows.

Seriously though, converting to use the new features is quick and easy and worth the change. The method to convert older Office documents to Office 2007 format is the same for all applications, but we are using and example of a Word document of previous version. Again, when you open a Word or Excel document of an older version, you will see [Compatibility Mode] as part of the title on the Title Bar…So, to convert older Office documents to Office 2007 format:

• Open the Word document, which you want to convert into Word 2007 format
• Click on the Microsoft Office button on the top left
• Click on Convert on the left hand side of the menu
• Click on the OK button on the Microsoft Word Office dialog box which appears
• By clicking OK, your document is automatically converted to the Word 2007 format
• Now notice that [Compatibility Mode] is no longer part of the title bar

What are Drivers?

DRIVERS ARE THE SOFTWARE PROGRAMS THAT CONTROL HARDWARE DEVICES.

All devices (printer, disk drive, keyboard, mouse) must have a driver software program.

Many drivers, such as the keyboard driver, come with the operating system; for other devices, you may need to “load” a new driver when you connect the device to your computer.

• In DOS systems, drivers are files with a.SYS extension
  In Windows environments, drivers often have a.DRV extension

Each device has its own set of special commands that only its driver knows. In contrast, most programs access devices by using generic commands. Almost all drivers can be “downloaded” directly from the manufacturer’s website, to ensure that you have the most current DRIVER installed on your system.

If a device isn't working correctly - such as your printer, scanner, webcam etc. - go to the manufacturer's website and "download" the driver again - it will see that you have software on your computer already for the hardware and will simply modify the instructions/softeware already on your computer.

Personally I do this twice a year (such as when the clocks change) to make sure my driver software is always the most up-t-date. it's quick and easy and it's free..

Software Programs & Drivers - What runs on 32-bit or 64-bit computers?

Still confused about what the terms 32-bit and 64-bit are all about. Simply these numbers refer to the way our computer's processor or brain (what you hear referred to as the CPU), handles information.

64-bit handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) much more quickly and effectively than a 32-bit system

Most programs designed for a computer running a 32-bit version of Windows will work on a computer running 64-bit versions of Windows, however major exceptions to this are:

• many (if not most) antivirus programs and
• some hardware drivers, including those for flash drives and printers

Drivers designed for 32-bit versions of Windows don't work on computers running a 64-bit version of Windows. If you're trying to install a printer or other device that only has 32-bit drivers available, it won't work correctly on a 64-bit version of Windows.
So if you aren’t sure or need help updating drivers or other troubleshooting issues with drivers for 64-bit versions of Windows, contact the manufacturer of the device or program

For more information before you upgrade to Windows 7, or about 32-bit vs 64-bit, check out microsoft's info site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/system-requirements.aspx

What is a PDF document???

PDF: Short for Portable Document Format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDF captures formatting information from a variety of software application programs – including Microsoft Word & Excel, Word Perfect and others, so that it is possible to send formatted documents and have them appear on the recipient's monitor or printer as they were intended. So they are welcome to open, read, save & print the documents – but they cannot change them.. When you and I visit websites, such as the registry of motor vehicles, IRS, medical, insurance and other such websites, forms we download are often done in PDF format so that we can view them, save them, print them as we need them – we just couldn’t modify them or change any information on them. In order to view them however, we need to have the Adobe Reader, which is a free application distributed by Adobe Systems

To download the latest version of Adobe Reader go to this website:
http://www.get.adobe.com/reader

What is a Firewall??

A firewall is a system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both.
Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets.
All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
Many anti-virus programs contain firewalls which you can turn on or off when you want to download authorized new programs
Your Internet provider has numerous firewalls and other security precautions to protect them and all of us when we are using their Internet services

What are Plug-Ins?

PLUG-INS are small computer bits of software, typically free, that let you view a document, interact with an image, listen to music or watch a video. When you have the right PLUG-IN software application, you can view different information formats in your browser window on your computer, so that you can listen to your favorite song, see animations and videos and read documents that are secured in PDF format. Example: if you want to play a game that uses Shockwave and you don't have it on your computer you'll be prompted to install it. Once installed, you usually have to restart your browser or even your operating system to make a plug-in active. What popular PLUG-INS do:

Real Player - Popular sound and video player

Flash Player - Used for animations and games

Shockwave Player - Used for 3d animations and games

Cortona - Used for viewing and interacting with virtual environments

Acrobat - This is a reader, that is needed to look at PDF files

QuickTime - used for high quality video

Windows Media Player - Microsoft's media player - plays sound and video

iPIX - Used for viewing 3D Picture Bubbles

VLC Media Player - Some say this is the best media player for windows plays sound & video

Why Software Updates Are Important

It is very important to allow “updates” for your Windows Operating System, AntiVirus Software and other software and hardware being used on a regular basis.

Updates are needed to “fix” patch new security flaws and / or fix bugs, viruses etc. in your system. If you have a Windows computer connected to the Internet, you desperately need to keep your security as up to date as possible

For current updates to your Microsoft Operating System – check the following link which will look at your operating system to be sure you are current. If you are not, it will recommend (list) which updates you should download.

Note that many updates will require you to “reboot” (restart) your computer…and remember you can schedule these tasks using your System Maintenance Task Scheduler

Your Windows Operating System Updates can be downloaded from http://www.windowsupdate.com/ or by enabling Automatic Updates.

Windows Vista users can click the Start button, click All Programs, and then select Windows Update.