Letting Your Computer Do the Talking

Windows Vista provides a program called Narrator that actually speaks to you! Narrator can describe aloud the items that are currently displayed on your screen, and it can even read long blocks of text. Narrator has some limitations, but it can be very useful in the right circumstances. Of course, for Narrator to work, your computer must have a sound system.

Listen to Narrator

Start Narrator from the Start menu to display the Narrator dialog box.

Select this check box if you want Narrator to speak aloud each keystroke you make so that you can verify that you're pressing the keys you want.

Select or clear any of the check boxes to make Narrator work the way you want.

Choose Voice Settings to open the Voice Settings dialog box.

Adjust the reading speed, volume, and pitch of Narrator's voice. Click OK when you've finished.

Press Alt+Spacebar, and choose Minimize from the Control menu to minimize Narrator when you've adjusted all the settings to your satisfaction.

To close Narrator, keep pressing Alt+Tab until Narrator becomes selected, and then click the Exit button in the Narrator dialog box.

See Also

"Directing Your Computer with Voice Commands" on pages 172173 and "Dictating Text" on pages 174175 for information about talking to your computer.

Tip

Narrator works very well with the speech-recognition program, but it's designed primarily to work with the keyboard, so use the Tab key to move around in a dialog box, or use keyboard shortcuts to activate commands. To temporarily stop Narrator while it's reading or describing something, press the Ctrl key. To have Narrator describe the contents of a window at any time, press Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar. To hear a description of the layout, press Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar.