Product Description

Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred 8 ... Read more

Features

• Works with Corel WordPerfect and virtually all Windows-based applications
• Speech recognition software for dictating, editing, and controlling applications
• Listen to incoming e-mail read aloud; search the Web by speaking URLs and links
• Use dictation shortcuts to insert text or bitmaps with a single voice command
• Dictate directly into a PC or any Scansoft-approved handheld digital recorder

Reviews (24)

the rest of us should buy speed-reading software
I am considering buying this software, but the reason I'm writing here is I couldn't help noticing the very large average size of the reviews for this product.
Since most of the reviewers are writers, my advice is to spend some serious time on editing and cutting about 2/3 of the material.
The rest of us should invest in spread-reading skills because it really works.

AWESOME!
I don't usually write reviews. Fact of the matter is, with the exception of Photoshop, which I am a confirmed devotee of, I don't get too excited about software. I have to admit though that this particular version of DNS has really knocked my socks off!

Being semi-disabled, typing is a real problem for me. I have actually had trouble getting a job because most companies will not let me use voice typing software even though I type about twice as fast with it as I do on my own.

Frankly, it's been a pain in the tush! Getting a voice typing program that actually works consistently and has good recognition results has not been an easy thing. This is the first version of this program that I have tried that really works and I have been using the program on and off since version 5!

Version 8 has been actually been accurate enough that I can use it for everything from e-mail to doing my job. From what I can tell it gets about 99% of what I am saying, and that is pretty decent compared to the same application say five years ago! It's not perfect, but it does allow me to do my job,and go about my daily activities computer-wise, without too much pain being involved.

(shrug)

What can I say?

I just can't do anything on my computer without it these days!

It works almost flawlessly in every single program I have tried it in, and that includes my non-standard e-mail program, online in chat boxes, and even in difficult areas like this.

I can't wait to see what they will come up with in the next version. With the exception of the fact that this version never seems to capitalize the first word of a sentence, which drives me crazy, this is about as good as I ever thought voice-recognition could get! I am learning to get around the few small quirks, and I must admit, otherwise, this program has really been a godsend for me.

I have read reviews of professional voice type programs that cost five times as much and they don't seem to indicate any more satisfaction in terms of results than I am getting with DNS8. Yeah, it was a bear doing all the training, but I found that the little bit of effort had a considerable effect on my ability to accurately voice type.

I am pretty pleased thus far!

Nice job ScanSoft! You folks are doing a fine job, and I am very happy to say so. You have really made it a lot easier for me to deal with having an annoying disability, and I really do appreciate that! Every little bit helps, and I find that DNS8 takes a huge load off my damaged body in terms of wear and tear and stress.

I am much obliged, and please DO keep up the good work!

Yes, every word of this review was definitely typed in DNS8. It took me all of 10 minutes, and I hardly had to correct a thing besides! If, ya'll think I am working for the company, you couldn't be more wrong here! Nope, not a corporate stooge, singing the praises of a company product just to get your attention, I am a real-life user, who just happens to find this particular program about as useful as it gets!

If you are looking for good voice-recognition, look no further! This is about as good as it gets unless you are willing to spend a whole heck of a lot more money, and waste about 10 times the time trying to get it to work!

Believe me when I tell you I have tried them all, and this is the only voice type program that even comes close to allowing me to get the job done!

Yeah, I guess this is a glowing review, but darn it, ScanSoft has earned it with this one! I must have waited at least a decade to be able to do this with any amount of real accuracy. To finally be able to write, to do my job, every day, effectively and with minimal effort, using a headset? To be able to type again without killing my neck and back?

Well, it's pretty darned cool...

:)

Morrighan

1st class excellent and easy voice recognition.
*NEEDS A HEADSET*
To be honest perfect voice recognition comes at about $1000. ScanSoft Dragon NaturallySpeaking is the best semi-pro voice recognition package to use because of its speed of learning and accuracy. I find myself recommending this more over expensive pro packages. Let me list the reasons why.

1. It is quicker to load than the pro packages.
2. It has enough functions to understand most of the things I say. If you want it to understand legal or medical terms then get the add-ons for this.
3. It is easy to use.
4. The learning curve is not steep.
5. The package is smaller in hard drive size than pro packages.
6. It can do the vast majority of things that a pro package can do.

Pro packages even have a steeper learning curve but they are more accurate, this getting sometimes 100% for minutes on end, however how this depends on the type of work you are doing. I would recommend this just on the basis that you can get it working right out the box by just learning the basic interface, simply turn on and speak, but you will spend maybe a few hours the first day training it, and a few hours every week for the next month, but the more you use it the better it will be, in just over a month it should be almost perfect. Expect some degree of hand editing your speech to text, software can do text to speech also, but computer voice simulation, not what you trained, go pro if that is what you need.

Very satisfied, works great.
I am writing this review using the Dragon naturally speaking 8 preferred software.I just started using it and I'm very happy.

I use a Compaq Presario x1000 laptop, Windows XP, 500 MB RAM, and an Andrea 750 microphone.Oh, and I do use Microsoft Office small business edition 2003.Because of prior reviews of Dragon software, I did some research before buying this product.(The first thing I did was throw out my old IBM ViaVoice disk.It's useless and per my research, not worth upgrading.)

Scansoft is also worthless for tech support or advice.

I contacted eMicrophones, their web site is eMicrophones.com, and got some great advice.They advised a minimum 500 MB RAM and a better microphone, the Andrea ANC-750.They also advised a USB soundcard as the sound card in most laptops is not shielded and noisy.I'm glad I took their advice.My laptop smokes, even using the voice software.No compatability problems at all.No crashes or slowdowns (and I do have XP SP2 installed).

I hope this helps you all.Kurt

Returning Customer
I've use voice recognition software for the last five years or so, with the first 3 to 3 1/2 years using Dragon and the last year and a half or so using Microsoft Office's bundled software.This version has brought me back into the Dragon fold.The accuracy is simply amazing, and it really is near perfect.Definitely worth the investment. ... Read more

Product Description

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 is the most accurate speech recognition product ScanSoft has ever developed - delivering up to 99% accuracy! No other product delivers this combination of accuracy, power and ease-of-use - finally making speech recognition something every member of the family can use! No more "hunt and peck" typing - with Dragon NaturallySpeaking you will experience the fun and simplicity of using your voice to turn speech into text at up to 160 words per minute. Create e-mail, instant messages and surf the web - simply by speaking!

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Standard is an easy-to-use product that gives you everything you need to get started, including a free high-quality headset microphone with noise canceling technology.

Features:

• Works With All Your Favorite Applications!Dictate, edit and control applications all by voice with programs like Microsoft® Word, Microsoft® Internet Explorer®, America Online®, and Corel® WordPerfect®.
• Faster Than Typing!Most people speak faster than 160 words per minute, but type less fewer than 40 words a minute. That means you can create e-mails about three times faster using Dragon NaturallySpeaking!
• More Accurate Than Ever Before!With a 25% increase in accuracy, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 8 is up to 99% accurate and frequently more accurate than typing. Dragon NaturallySpeaking never makes a spelling mistake, and it actually gets smarter the more you use it!
• Easy To Use!Simply install the Dragon NaturallySpeaking CD, and in just a few minutes, you'll be dictating letters, e-mails and surfing the web by voice!

Features

• Free high-quality headset microphone with noise canceling technology included
• Speech recognition software for dictating, editing, and controlling applications
• Surf the Web and access information by speaking URLs and links
• Teach software to recognize your voice in as few as 5 minutes
• Nothing But Speech technology eliminates "ums" and "ahs" from dictation

Reviews (8)

Wow!
DNS version 8 is leaps and bounds better than earlier versions.I'm now achieving 98% accuracy - even the small words are properly recognized.Just be aware that you need a horse of a PC (1 GB RAM, a powerful processor, and a very good sound card) plus a good microphone (Sennheiser is best).

Needs some adjustment - but definitely on the right track
I like this hardware/software program and believe it will improve with use.

The first problem I encountered is that the headphone has two plugs at the end of the wire.An Orange colored plug and a red one.After much trial and error I found that the orange and red plugs do not work when plugged into their respective orange and red sockets in the back of the computer.

I decided that based on reading the material with ScanSoft Dragon 8 that my computer must require the battery that is identified in the instructions which must be purchased separately.Being stubborn and having grown up in the computer age from its beginning, I decided to plug the orange plug into the green colored socket in the back of the computer, and the red plug into the orange socket.Works great now!!This may not be the same problem for everyone - I have a new Sony VAIO Computer and maybe the sockets are just colored differently on this computer.

My second major problem was getting the program to understand me the same every time.We go along fine, and then suddenly it no longer understands what I am saying.

Another problem in my opinion is registration - I registered the program.It apparently did not take.After a reminder that I only had so long to properly register the program, I searched and finally found registration and reregistered the program.Today I received a third notice that I must register the program.The best I can figure is that I did not give enough optional information about my preferences (I gave virtually none) and I did not opt into receiving other solicitations.I would like for this please register notice to go away.

Be ready to devote some time to the learning curve on this program.This virtually requires learning a new language.

I am a proficient typist and learning to think with my brain and mouth instead of my brain and fingers while at the computer is difficult for me.

Despite the problems, I am glad I purchased the program and I'm looking forward to a new adventure.

Doesn't support digital voice recorder
Wish I had known this software only does voice and does not support a digital voice recorder.I would have purchased the preferred edition.

Disappointing - low accuracy, voice strain.
Using version 7 has been very disappointing, though there is a lot of potential. It makes a lot of stupid mistakes, writing things that make no grammatical sense. Surely it would not be difficult to include simple grammatical rules so it can eliminate certain possibilities and have a better chance of correct interpretation. I have to make so many corrections, and the "select" function is so unreliable for me that using Dragon is usually much slower than typing.

Tech support is nonexistent.

Now they want us to pay money for version 8. After spending money on the poor quality, buggy product (v7), I'm not sure that I trust this company.

Tips: The included headset was not very good. I got better results using my own (cheap) headset, and would probably do better buying a good one.

I can get better results by speaking very clearly and slowly (as if talking to an imbecile) but I very quickly strain my voice. They say to speak normally and clearly without straining, but this just doesn't work - so be careful. Look on the Internet for a guide to avoiding voice strain.

Unfortunately there are no serious alternatives that the moment, so for me it's a choice between voice strain and sore fingers and wrists.

Note: I am using the Australian edition. The US edition may be better (although the Australian edition should be less of a challenge, as there is much less variation in Australian accents than in American accents). I speak very clearly, and when I'm using this program I try to speak like a newsreader.

Good luck!

Disappointing
When paying as much as I did for this product, I would have expected a little better. Training the program turned into a constant battle for me, and I never could get it to work well enough to be faster than typing. Then I began having unexplained system problems. Internet Explorer began working poorly, and I became unable to download any updates for WindowsXP. I finally noticed my firewall alert going off, and checked my security log. There were several entries from the manufacturer of this program, some of which had accessed and changed executable programs in my system. (My firewall includes a back trace, so I can tell where any attack originates from.) After I restored my system to a point before NaturallySpeaking 8 was installed, my system problems have vanished. I can't believe ScanSoft would put out a program like this, and I will avoid them in the future. ... Read more

Product Description

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise with 25 CALs .To compete successfully in today's challenging business climate, organizations must enable more efficient ways for knowledge workers to communicate and collaborate. E-mail is currently the most widely used collaborative technology. More businesses use Exchange Server for e-mail-based collaboration than any other product. Exchange Server 2003 enables knowledge workers to gain access to critical business communications almost whenever and wherever they need to and is designed to deliver greater security, availability, and reliability.Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition is designed for large enterprise corporations and enables you to create multiple storage groups and multiple databases. Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition provides an 8-terabyte (TB) public folder store that eases the constraints on the amount of data that a single server can manage. With Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, you get: all the features and products included in Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition database size limited only by your hardware (with a maximum size of 16 terabytes) multiple databases per server clustering support for four nodes on Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server or eight nodes on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. ... Read more

Features

• Extensive security and privacy features
• For large organizations with multiple storage groups and databases
• Flexible configuration; integrated support for mobile devices
• Network compression; integration with Outlook 2003
• Recover storage groups, databases, or individual mailboxes

Product Description

Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 8.0 Medical.Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical truly delivers on the promise of speech recognition in healthcare. Never has a release of Dragon NaturallySpeaking been as accurate - Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical is 25% more accurate than the previous release, and delivers up to 99% accuracy! Now healthcare professionals can truly eliminate the high cost and long turnaround time associated with manual transcription of patient notes. The result is lower costs and better patient care.Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical will fit right into your enterprise IT infrastructure. The new Roaming User feature lets you access your unique #34user profile#34 from any workstation in your organization's network, so you can #34roam#34 your hospital, clinic or practice and always have access to the power of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical also comes with a complete library of 14 medical specialty vocabularies, as well as the tools to further customize vocabularies for a specific practice. Finally, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical will work with just about any Electronic Medical Record (EMR) application. ... Read more

Features

• Create simple commands that will automate complex, multi-step tasks and use templates to speed up clinical documentation. Just say a single word or phrase and let your computer do the rest.
• With a 25% increase in accuracy, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 8 Medical is up to 99% accurate-just as accurate as many manual transcriptionists.
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical comes with specialty vocabularies for Radiology, Cardiology, Surgery, General Medical, Family Practice, ObGyn, Neurology, Pathology, Orthopedic, Emergency, Mental Health, Oncology, Pediatrics and Gastroenterology.
• You can even access your unique Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical "profile" from any PC on your organization's local area network.
• Be productive on-the-go! Import recordings from any ScanSoft-certified handheld device for automatic transcription and have a third party editor quickly and easily make corrections.

Product Description

Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition includes Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 technology. You get the capabilities of a security-enhanced small-business network with storage, printing, collaboration, e-mail, Internet connectivity, support for mobile workers, and faxing.

Features:

• E-mail, networking, and Internet connectivity:Get shared access to the Internet, a firewall to help protect your local network, Internet e-mail based on Exchange Server, and productivity tools such as Outlook® Web Access and the Remote Web Workplace.
• Microsoft Windows SharePoint Service:Get a preconfigured internal Web site based on Windows SharePoint Services, which team members can use to share information in a collaborative environment.
• Remote access:You can accommodate an increasingly mobile work force through the new Remote Web Workplace, which provides access to e-mail, remote desktops, and much more.
• Mobility:Your mobile users can access their e-mail, schedule, calendar, and task information from their cell phones and other portable devices.
• Server administration and management:Take advantage of updated, end-to-end network administration features that help ensure that your network runs efficiently.

Features

• Includes Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 technology
• Get a preconfigured internal Web site based on Windows SharePoint Services
• Accommodate a mobile work force through the Remote Web Workplace
• Mobile users can access their information from portable devices
• Updated network administration features helps your network run efficiently

Reviews (1)

Server Basics 101
I just took on setting up my first small office network.We have four computers and a desktop that someone set up to run as a server. The 6 gig harddrive had long seen its time and needed to be replaced.I bought a Dell PowerEdge SC420, 4 Windows XP Professional upgrades (from Amazon at an amazing price and current rebate) and Windows Small Business Server 2003 (also at a great price).I've worked on PC's for years but never set up a office network with a server.I was very apprehensive and questioned my skill but this software honestly was ridiculously simple to install and deploy.

It guides you through the entire process step by step and I recommend it highly to anyone looking for their first server software.Of course it does have some very technical aspects that left me scratching my head but that's because I don't know what I'm doing.Setting up Sharepoint and Exchange will require some further reading on my part but shouldn't be that difficult to deploy.

I recommend this product very highly and didn't give it 5 stars because of my own inexperience and not being able to see what it can fully do.It also takes hours to install which is pretty typical for any Microsoft product.I did have the whole thing done in one Saturday though and it took about 8 hours altogether. ... Read more

Product Description

Outlook 2003 ... Read more

Features

• New Navigation Pane easily accesses Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Folders, Shortcuts and Journal
• Access, send, and receive e-mail messages from multiple accounts -- including work, personal or Web-based accounts
• Outlook 2003's Reading Pane, now on the right side of the screen, displays twice as much content, with reduced scrolling
• Group messages by date, size, conversation, subject, importance or other criteria for easy retrieval
• Quick Flags let you flag messages by priority or time sensitivity

Reviews (23)

Outlook is good but it is not for everybody!
Outlook is a very powerful program that can do a lot of stuff but most users do not use more than 10% of Outlooks functionality.If you are one of these users I suggest not getting Outlook but look at some alternatives.For instance try Mozilla's Thunderbird email program.It is a very good email program with a lot of functionality and great spam protection.The best part about an alternative email program like Thunderbird is that it's free!Since Thunderbird is open source software anyone who wants to help work on it can.Thunderbird is worked on by millions of programmers around the world who want to use a better email program.It's user friendly and easy to install.Find it by doing a Web search for Mozilla Thunderbird.

Still Looking For A Better Mouse Trap!
I have always given Outlook a second chance every time Microsoft comes out with a new version and some reason or another I end up switching back to something else.

I really like the concepts of having an "all-in-one" package for email, contacts, appointments, etc; But Microsoft needs to start paying more attention to detail on email functionality.

After using Outlook 2003 for about a year now, here are some annoyances that are driving me away from this product.

1.) Cannot add my own email filters and filter rules. This feature should be a given and my biggest complaint. Why do I need to rely on Microsoft to update Junk Email filters for me? Other email clients (Such as Netscape) allow me to add a filter for certain key words and an action such as "send to trash" if it encounters those key words.

2.) Junk Email features are a joke. Again, anchored on my 1st complaint, if junk email arrives in my inbox, I have to add the sender to the block senders list. This is fine if the sender always uses the same return address, but as you know with spammers, this is never the case. Also, Outlook waits to inform me that the email is junk AFTER I've opened the email.

3.) Too much security, and no control. Is there such thing as too much security? I believe there is if I can't control what I want enabled and disabled without a bunch of registry hacks.
Instead of Microsoft making the decision for me of what I can view or cannot view as an attachment, I would prefer to make that decision for myself.

4.) Favorite Email Folders is a stupid and useless feature and you can't get rid it. This window is just useless clutter, but yet again, we have no control of what's displayed in the outlook window. Enough said.

5.) Forwarded messages arrive as attachments, no way to change this. Another big complaint of mine. If a message was forwarded 3,4 or more times, I have keep drilling down through the attachments for each time the message was forwarded just to get to the original message. Ultimately you end up with x number of useless windows open cluttering up your taskbar and x number of windows I have to close once I'm done reading the original message. If a message was forwarded 4 times before it got to me, that's 4 times I have to double click an attachment and 4 extra windows open. It would be nice to have the option to have all forwarded messages contained within the same message body instead as an attachment.

Not for people on dial-up
I think that this version of Outlook would be perfect if I weren't on dial-up: Outlook seems to be incapable of doing anything relating to your HTTP or IMAP email folders without checking the server, to the point that you can't even access them offline. The fact that Outlook has to check the server almost evrey time you do anything to your email can really be grating on dial-up. Maybe there's a way to stop the constant reference to the server, but I haven't found it.

It also has an annoying habit of locally replacing one of my two Hotmail accounts with the other, necessitating that I remove and recreate the "corrupt" account.

Seeing as how I don't use many of Outlook's other bells and whistles, I can't comment on the broader program, but apart from that signficant headache, it works fairly well.

Need to fix PCS
Generally good, but two bugs remain from before:
1)Outlook PCS, which offers the only hope of exchangingwith a PDA contact date organized into subfolders, is so buggy as to be unusable.A little effort by MS could make it great.
2)Appointments still get totally screwed up if you change time zones on the computer.Have to work around by pretending that you're in your home time zone when you travel, but just change the clock time.

Works Great
New interface and features are nice. I use OpenOffice.org instead of Microsoft Office, so a can't comment on the Microsoft Office integration.

Didn't notice any "AdWare" as stated by another reviewer.

I upgraded from Outlook 2000 and it went flawlessly. Found all my Rules, customized folders and Accounts without any setup.

Until the Open Source community provides an alternative on a Microsoft platform, I'll continue to use Microsoft Outlook. For $90.00, you can't beat it.

Thanks for a great product Microsoft. ... Read more

Product Description

iListen 1.6.3 with Headset/Microphone ... Read more

Features

• Easy to install, train and use
• Speech recognition software
• Dictation in normal tone of voice and at a normal pace
• Dictate, format and edit directly in any application
• Correct and Update your Voice Model in almost any Application

Reviews (3)

Takes time, but it works
Just to prove the product works, I am dictating with version 1.6.6 right now.It is about 90 percent accurate for me. I have few complaints except the documentation, and the long list of things you can say often goes back to the beginning when you're further down the list. All in all though, I am happy with the product and I have saved a lot of hand use. It is virtually the only program of its kind for the Mac - you can dictate into any program in which you can type. You might want to consider buying the version without the microphone and purchasing the higher end microphone MacSpeech offers. You cannot go very fast, and you have to say things exactly like it requires, but if you have rsi like I do, it sure helps.

works for me!
I do some pretty arcane dictation with lots of technical vocabulary, and have found the system up to my demands. I have worked at training the system, and it keeps on improving. I do find some of the interfaces a bit awkward to work with compared to the system I use with my PC (Naturally Speaking Standard Edition), but then, I've worked with that system somewhat longer. If the recognition of iListen improves with use as well as Naturally Speaking has, I will change my rating to 5 stars.

Be glad I didn't enter this with iListen
I purchased iListen about three years ago. I found that it might have been useful for verbal commands to control computer functions, but it was useless for dictation. I upgraded to version 1.2.1, patiently went through at least three, new "training" sessions, and still was unable to create useable text via verbal input. When iListen kept sending me e-mail solicitations, I offered to upgrade if they could demonstrate that they had improved accuracy. They replied, "Because there are so many variables, and everyone has a different definition of what is acceptable results, all sales of iListen software are final."

My definition of acceptable dictation was that accuracy wassufficient to permit replication upon proof reading. I would accept errors, but not so different from what I had said that I could not reconstruct my text from its translation. It never even came close. Perhaps my voice is incompatible with iListen, and maybe it will translate your speech accurately. In either case, remember, all sales are final. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Remotely accessing computers--whether from the next desk over or in aremote office thousands of miles away--is an essential part of business life. Keeping things running smoothly and safely, Symantec's pcAnywhere 10.5 allowsusers to work where they like without worrying about slow file transfers ormalicious hackers. The package is designed for two sets of users: help deskstaffers who want to watch what their clients are doing or even take overoperations remotely, and mobile professionals who need to access files or runprograms while far from their desks.

Installing and setting up the software can be tricky for novices, so most usersshould have competent IT staff on hand to take care of glitches. Once installed,it's easy to remotely control machines or quickly drag and drop files via cableor modem using the simple, intuitive interface. Essentially, the remote machineopens a window into the host computer to watch or take over its functioning.While this may take a bit of adjustment at first, it quickly becomes secondnature.

The security features for pcAnywhere are strong, varied, and impressive,including basic authentication, roaming network search for unauthorizedconnections, and comprehensive logging. IT professionals will appreciate therebootless install feature, which lets them put the software on employees'computers transparently. Remote access should be safe and painless, andpcAnywhere 10.5 is both. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (12)

NOT FOR SERVERS!But great for what it was made for
OK folks, let's get this straight.PC-Anywhere (or any such remote-control software) is NOT for servers!(I am a MCSE certified Systems Engineer with over 15 years of experience in large network environments...trust me when I tell you this).Remote-control software is also not the best solution for setting up remote-access for several network users.

PC Anywhere is great for what it should be used for -- an individual getting in to control his/her personal PC.It will work well over dial-up or broadband speeds, and has deacent security built in.

This new version does not seem to bring a lot to the table over older versions, but overall still a very solid product for remote DESKTOP control.

But please, if you feel the impulse to put PC Anywhere on a server, stop and go find a qualified systems administrator who can tell you the RIGHT way to support remote Windows servers.

Never changes
You would think that a product would improve with time -- but no, not pcAnywhere! It is, always has been, and probably always will be deeply flawed. I installed this product on two Windows 2003 Servers. On one of them, the host service kept failing whenever I tried to initiate a file transfer. On the other server, file transfers worked fine but the visual display was a distortion of black and white lines. It's amazing -- every single version I work with has some problem that keeps me from being able to move it into production. And version 10.5 is no exception. Save your money!

Saved my company a lot of $$$$
Being a Systems Engineer for our network users, I love this product. It has made my life so much easier. Instead of walking the end users through some steps over the phone, I just log in and take care of the issue. Here's where the money savings comes in... I no longer have to send a computer in for software issues because someone couldn't follow the instructions and my company doesn't have to pay to fly me to the different sites. The only issue I have ever had is with 10.5 and XP. It always installs fine, but it leaves an item in the tool bar that you can't close (more annoying than anything else). I imagine vers. 11 will fix this. Over all I give this product a BIG thumbs up!

Install PCAnywhere 10.5 on Windows NT at your own risk.
I recently got a new home computer with Windows XP on it.I had currently been using Windows 98 and had PCAnywhere 8.0 running on it as well as on my PC at work running with Windows NT 4.0.It ran perfectly for years, however the only version of PCAnywhere compatible with XP is 10.5..So, I got this program and decided to load it at work as the documentation said it ran with NT. BIG MISTAKE!!!!Program installed fine, but when I went to reboot my machine at the end of the night it Blue Screened on the reboot.Then it continually rebooted and blue screened.Couldn't bypass it.Tried starting the machine in VGA mode.No good either.Blue screen.Went to Symantec site and there is a known bug with NT and 10.5 that can cause a Blue screen due to some video driver crud.Bottom line, their fix involved installing parallel version of NT on machine and doing all sorts of manual stuff with the Registry.Send my Machine off to company LAN department.Guess what. MACHINE IS TRASHED.Unrecoverable.The have to reimage the entire box.Everything on my machine is gone.Nice of Symantec to (NOT) warn me before I installed about potential problems with NT 4.0.If they had I would have kept my 8.0 on my work PC.Bottom line, I have been without a machine for a day, all my work is lost and I have nothing by disdain for this software.DO NOT install 10.5 on an NT machine if you value your PC.You have been warned.

Slow, slower, slowest!
I've used PC Anywhere in all its iterations. As a professional software analyst, I used to require that all my clients purchase a copy.

But not anymore. My biggest beef is that even when both the host and remote connections are high speed Internet, this product responds too slowly. When using this product, I can click with my mouse, go to the bathroom, get a second cup of coffee and pet my dog before the command will take effect.

I much prefer using WebX or VPN as a tool of choice for remote support.

On the plus side, remote support after hours, while slow, is relatively painless. ... Read more

Product Description

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 with 5 CALs .To compete successfully in today's challenging business climate, organizations must enable more efficient ways for knowledge workers to communicate and collaborate. E-mail is currently the most widely used collaborative technology. More businesses use Exchange Server for e-mail-based collaboration than any other product. Exchange Server 2003 enables knowledge workers to gain access to critical business communications almost whenever and wherever they need to and is designed to deliver greater security, availability, and reliability.Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition is designed for large enterprise corporations and enables you to create multiple storage groups and multiple databases. Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition provides an 8-terabyte (TB) public folder store that eases the constraints on the amount of data that a single server can manage. With Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, you get: all the features and products included in Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition database size limited only by your hardware (with a maximum size of 16 terabytes) multiple databases per server clustering support for four nodes on Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server or eight nodes on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. ... Read more

Features

• Recovery with minimal user impact, without separate recovery servers
• Meets messaging and collaboration needs of small and medium corporations
• Flexible configuration; exceptional security and privacy features
• Integrated support for mobile devices
• Integration with Outlook 2003 offers optimum network performance, and more

Product Description

PaperPort 10 ... Read more

Features

• Download photos from digital camera; easily organize, edit, and find images
• Scanning and document management application for Microsoft Windows
• Quickly turn paper into digital content; save Web pages as PDF documents
• Create and annotate PDF files; convert static form into fillable electronic form
• Thumbnail management for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files

Reviews (9)

Nostalgia
When I installed my first Paperport (v7), it was one of my top 3 programs of all times. Since then, PP has gone downhill with every major revision. It took me a year to get through the fatal bugs in v9, although it will still crash from time to time for no apparent reason, the only software from my 142 installed programs to do so. Of my 3 big reasons of use (search, compressed document format and document edit), I use PP only for edits of my scans, as Acrobat (for archive format) and Copernic (free) do a much better job in the other two departments.

In light of this track-record, v10 is an insult to injury as v9 should have been fully cleaned up before a new offering. I fervently hope the company can stitch the product up as I do not yet wish to abandon an old favourite.

I normally hate writing such reviews as all the negative publicity affects product sales, on which depend many jobs. Much hard work goes into product development so it is with a sad heart that I am moved to write this review, moved because a company could be so greedy to continue to milk its loyal customer base with half baked offerings. If this were a car, the streets would be littered with accidents.

Four months later -- still not patch
I have used PaperPort since version 8. Version 10 should be much better. It has some nice ideas added. They just don't work in the first release.

The other reviews of this product spotlight the defects in the initial release. It is usually a good idea to wait for the first patch before writing any review of a product. But it is not four months since ScanSoft allowed this mess out the door, and there is no sign of progress.

Listen to what other people have said. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT UNTIL THEY MEND IT.

PP v10 a frustrating step back from v9 ...even 8
I've been using Paperport for years, started before v7 was ever released, and made every upgrade along the way.Each verson was always a nice improvement, espec v9 ...but NOT v10.Stay away from it ...buy v9 instead.

If you were a v9 user, and upgraded to v10, y'all know what I mean.Simply stated, it's trash ...full of bugs, slower than ....slow.Oh so frustrating.

For those of you who never used Paperport before, you MIGHT like v10 ...but that's because you don't know any better. ScanSoft NEEDS A MAJOR!!!! BUG FIX for v10, if even that will ever do the job. Version 10 should have never been released in its current state.

For any newbies to Paperport ...buy v9.It works smoothly, is faster ....and it still has plenty of features that you will like, and other features, once you better learn the software, that you will learn to exploit with satisfaction. The so-called new stuff that v10 supposedly offers is not even close to significant enough for one to have to endure all is 'bugs', inoperabilty and slowness. ...that you will quickly come to find out if you were a knowledgeable user of the earlier versions.

I upgraded to v10 as soon as it was released, and have had to 'tolerate' it everyday, and do 'work arounds' from the way I previously used it, since the day I installed it (a few months ago) ....while waiting, and waiting ...and waiting for Scansoft to release a Patch/update.

...Well enough is enough.Tomorrow is April 1st, and I am no fool! ...I'm switching back to PP-v9.

Love Paperport 9 Pro, but 10 Pro is a disaster...
Like others who have commented here, I have been a very happy Paperport 9 Professional user for several years.Last month, when I got a new high-end laptop with Windows XP Pro and saw that Paperport 10 Pro had just been released, I checked it out and was excited about all the new features.

However, from the moment I loaded it on my computer (and I should note that I am a VERY experienced computer user AND I actually read and follow directions carefully - so this isn't a case of some newbie who didn't know what he was doing) this software has been an unmitigated disaster!Everything ran at the speed of stone and my system crashed repeatedly.In the end, I completely re-imaged my computer back to the way it was when it came from the factory and re-installed all my software.I went back to Paperport 9 Pro and everything is fine again.

BUYER BEWARE !!

Buy Version 9 instead
This is my first Amazon review.I have been using Amazon since the dawn of time (1997) and this is the only product to move me so much as to break my silence and warn others.

This product is practically non-functional.I have used PaperPort 9 for 2 1/2 years and happily so.I thought 10 would be much better, but it must have been a re-write, because it's very different.

Granted, none of this is a measurable problem just opinion, so here are my measurables:

- Where it once was instantaneous to double-click on a thumbnail to view a document, it now takes 5 to 10 seconds.
- Where once i could move a document between folders instantly, it now takes the same 5 to 10 seconds.
- With Paperport 9, my scanner could run at top speed without stopping.With 10, my scanner overwhelms the app and causes it to crash if i let it run full out.

Paperport is/was a great product, but version 10 is a complete waste.Please purchase version 9 and you'll be glad you did.

Oh, and if you have problems with Paperport -- Scansoft charges you to talk to them about it.All technical support is on a pay-as-you-go basis, no freebies.There are google/yahoo support groups, but they offer little help.

Buyer Beware ... Read more

Product Description

A PC WORLD Best Buy! (April 2005) Spyware slows systems down, causes crashes and can even invade your privacy. To combat spyware, you need a powerful tool: CounterSpy. It aggressively hunts down and removes a broad range of spyware including adware, keyboard loggers and other malware. Reducing the chance of spyware getting installed on your system is also important. Thats why CounterSpys Active Protection looks at certain areas of your system for potential spyware threats, reducing your chances of getting infected by spyware. In an April 2005 review, PC World gave CounterSpy its Best Buy award for delivering the highest spyware detection rate. According to the review, "Sunbelt Software's CounterSpy, our new Best Buy, proved the most capable of the products we tested, with the highest detection rates, cleanest interface, and fastest scan speeds. Note: Twelve months of protection updates included with purchase of CounterSpy; annual subscriptions available for subsequent updates. ... Read more

Features

• Detects and eliminates dangerous hidden spyware threats like keyboard loggers, spyware, adware and other malware.
• Real-time monitoring reduces the chance of spyware threats before they damage your PC.
• Automatic updates insure that your version of CounterSpy is always up-to-date.
• Includes extra tools such as a security checkup to look for certain types of security holes and a “history cleaner”, to remove traces of your activity on the Internet.

Reviews (2)

Leading The Way
Every now and then, a product comes on to the market which actually does just what you want it to do. I am hardly a system tech, but regularly clean my PC with various programs, and considered my system spyware free. That is until I read PC Advisor`s (UK) review of anti-spyware programs recently, and on their recommendation installed Sunbelt`s Counterspy. It was a breeze to install, and the fast scan showed 6 spyware progs installed. After I got up off the floor, Counterspy cleaned the drive and left me feeling more than a tad relieved.
Sure, nothings` 100% foolproof, but this is easy to use, gives auto updates, and gives minimal system lag, not to mention being cheaper than the competition. If you`re unsure, read the reviews!

BEST ANTI-SPYWARE PROGRAM!
After reading the review of this product in PC WORLD just the other day, I went ahead and ordered the program.The review was right on, this program found 11 spyware files and one Trojan Horse file in my home computer. Interesting, because I run Ad-Aware and Spybot as my anti-spyware programs daily......and these two didn't find what Counterspy found! I'm sold. Though my other programs are "free", I gladly will spend the $19 bucks or so for this program for my other machines now. No, I don't work for the PC World folks; nor the Counterspy folks; nor Amazon or any computer outfit....Am retired, and have fun building computers for fun and family! ... Read more

Product Description

Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 8.0 Professional Upgrade from Preferred .Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Professional will save you and your organization money because it enables everyone to create documents up to four times faster than typing and protects against repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome that increase insurance premiums and temporary labor costs. It's simple: you and your employees can use Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Professional to create documents and e-mails, write reports and fill out forms, without having to type at all. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Professional is fully integrated in the Microsoft Office applications you use: Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. In fact, it works with just about any Windows application ... Read more

Features

• Install and manage Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Professional from a central network location. You can even access your unique Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Professional "profile" from any PC on your organization's local area network.
• With a 25% increase in accuracy, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 is up to 99% accurate and frequently more accurate than typing.
• That means you can create documents and e-mails about three times faster with Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Professional.
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Professional will help protect people in your organization from repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome - injuries that can cost tens of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums and temporary labor costs.
• Simply install the Dragon NaturallySpeaking CD, and in just a few minutes, you'll be creating documents, e-mails and filling out forms by voice! We even include a free noise-canceling microphone.

Reviews (1)

Great program perfect for the disabled - enjoy handsfree
If you're reading this. You are interested in buying Dragon NaturallySpeaking version eight if you are. I highly recommend it! I had versions of Dragon software, dating back to 1995. Let me tell you the software was clunky back then, being a quadriplegic, I used it to type and move the mouse. But as soon as I got a touchpad mouse. I dropped Dragon altogether. Step forward almost 10 years, I decided that I needed to send longer e-mails than two sentences (because that's all I could type, it gets tiring using only one hand and one knuckle on that hand). So I took the plunge drop the cash on Dragon, and after three days am totally satisfied.

I added up and running and dictating in less than 20 minutes. The accuracy is amazing I'm actually typing this by voice. Since I can use a touchpad, I do not use the Dragon NaturallySpeaking for mouse commands. But for dictating it is perfect and quick!!!

I'm using it with a 2 GHz processor, and it is fine. Getting it set up was a little quirky with my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. I'm actually using it with a tabletop condenser microphone, not the heads that they came with it (which I found to be quite uncomfortable). Since I'm unable to get the headset on my head, but a tabletop mike is working perfect.

So I recommend this product anyone who has a disability that makes typing difficult. Anybody who doesn't want to learn to type (though I think he would be lazy, just suck it up and learn). The software is leaps and bounds above previous versions go for it! Enjoy! ... Read more

Features

• Real-time scanning and protection; easy to install and use
• Computer-protection software for safely detecting and removing spyware
• Detect and completely block further threats with Ad-Watch
• Automatic updates; extended registry; disk scanning
• Detailed scan statistics; removal and quarantine logs

Reviews (2)

Good product poor program version update system
I present this review in the form of an complaint email I sent to Lavasoft (one which I recived no response.)

"I've been with you for years but am now going to move to a competitor.The reason is your program update system--every time you create a new version the program, it stops working and I have to go to your web site.And the instructions are confusing and I can't find my registration info from a year ago and when I do it does not work.This has happend repeatedly.And so so 3-4 days ago I wrote to your tech support (a web system pain in itself) and no one got back to me.Well forget it, I've had enough.You should make your updates of the program automatic like the updates of the data, which work fine.I like your program and I hate your update and technical support service...a bitter sweet experence with you"

Well worth the upgrade from the free version.
I first used the free version of Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE, and found it did a great job finding and removing ad-ware and spy-ware.The trouble was, I would find new spy-ware following each visit to the web.

By purchasing the "Plus" version, you get an additional feature, "Ad-Watch".Ad-Watch runs in the background similarly to an antivirus program.It stops ad-ware and spy-ware before they have an opportunity to work.Without Ad-Watch, any spy-ware or ad-ware will be active until you run Ad-Aware to remove it.

I still run Ad-Aware on occasion, but by allowing Ad-Watch to run, I have yet to find any spy-ware that has installed itself.Ad-Watch busts it before it has an opportunity to install and run.I enthusiastically recommend this product.
... Read more

Product Description

Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 8.0 Medical Upgrade from Medical .Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical truly delivers on the promise of speech recognition in healthcare. Never has a release of Dragon NaturallySpeaking been as accurate - Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical is 25% more accurate than the previous release, and delivers up to 99% accuracy! Now healthcare professionals can truly eliminate the high cost and long turnaround time associated with manual transcription of patient notes. The result is lower costs and better patient care.Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical will fit right into your enterprise IT infrastructure. The new Roaming User feature lets you access your unique #34user profile#34 from any workstation in your organization's network, so you can #34roam#34 your hospital, clinic or practice and always have access to the power of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical also comes with a complete library of 14 medical specialty vocabularies, as well as the tools to further customize vocabularies for a specific practice. Finally, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical will work with just about any Electronic Medical Record (EMR) application. ... Read more

Features

• Create simple commands that will automate complex, multi-step tasks and use templates to speed up clinical documentation. Just say a single word or phrase and let your computer do the rest.
• With a 25% increase in accuracy, Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 8 Medical is up to 99% accurate-just as accurate as many manual transcriptionists.
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical comes with specialty vocabularies for Radiology, Cardiology, Surgery, General Medical, Family Practice, ObGyn, Neurology, Pathology, Orthopedic, Emergency, Mental Health, Oncology, Pediatrics and Gastroenterology.
• You can even access your unique Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 Medical "profile" from any PC on your organization's local area network.
• Be productive on-the-go! Import recordings from any ScanSoft-certified handheld device for automatic transcription and have a third party editor quickly and easily make corrections.

Product Description

WinFax PRO 10.0 is the leading fax management software for small businesses. Its high-quality faxes help you project a professional image to your clients and customers. When image clarity is vital, you can generate photo-quality faxes. You can even send or forward faxes via email to people who don’t have fax hardware or software. (Requires a free viewer downloadable from the Symantec Web site.) WinFax PRO is easy to set up, learn, and use. And it integrates smoothly with key business applications to simplify your management of client and customer interactions. Now it also supports Windows® XP.

... Read more

Reviews (43)

Buyer beware
I am not new to computers. I am used to fixing many kinds of software problems in Windows. This is not an easy product to install on a Windows XP system, especially after it has been upgraded to SP2. If you are expecting to simply install this product, reboot your computer, and start faxing, you will be sorely disappointed. Despite warnings in many other reviews, I purchased v10.03 for use on my Windows XP system with SP2. While I was able to eventually get it installed and running, it slowed my computer's reboot time to a crawl and trashed my scanner software. It took several hours to get most things working again.

First off, you should not try to install anything less than version 10.03 on an XP system. Symantec warns you about this on their web site. If you insist on purchasing WinFax Pro - which I do not recommend - make sure you buy version 10.03.

Secondly, WinFax Pro conflicts with the built-in Windows Fax program in Win XP. You will need to uninstall Windows Fax (which can be done through Control Panel's Add/Remove programs, but you need to look for it in the Add/Remove Windows Components section) to get WinFax Pro to function properly.

Third, after you install WinFax Pro your computer may take forever to reboot. It looks like it is hung up in this process, but if you go do something else for a while it will eventually reboot. I have not figured out why it does this, but it has definitely slowed my computer reboot time to a crawl.

Fourth, if you have a scanner, it may trash your scanner software (it certainly did mine - HP Scanjet 6300C). Symantec's web site has information about this in their knowledge base for WinFax Pro, so it must happen to many others, too. I did not use their fix, though, as I could not find updated twain.dll and twain_32.dll files that they recommend using to replace the ones they screwed up. Instead, I uninstalled and then reinstalled my scanner's installation software. I had to run Symantec's SystemWorks software to find/fix Windows problems and reinstall the scanner drivers a few times before it worked, but eventually I got the scanner working again. WinFax seems to have permanently disabled my scanner's buttons for doing quick operations, though. I have not found a way to restore button function. But I can scan with the Precision Pro software that is part of HP's available software downloads on their web site.

As far as I can tell, after fixing the above-mentioned problems, WinFax Pro 10.03 does seem to work okay. It does not appear to be any improvement over prior versions of WinFax, so unless you have upgraded to Windows XP you will not likely find it worthwhile to upgrade. As many others have stated before me, this is very buggy software that causes many problems with Windows XP and will be horribly frustrating for anyone trying to install and use this software on an XP system. BUYER BEWARE!

WinFax: great product but it doesn't work
I have struggled to learn to use many software products however winfax has clearly been the most problematic. Since it was a symantec product I thought it probably was good but I must be doing something wrong.I struggled with the fix to allow it to work with MS word and it would work for a while.Then there would be feezes and crashes or it would just not send faxes.I would reboot to no avail.I would turn off all other programs but to no avail.I tried to find a solution on symantecs web site but to no avail. It must be Windows ME so I put it on Windows XP.It would stop sending faxes for no apparent reason.I tried it on windows 98; again, it would stop sending faxes for no apparent reason.I would try to use it a day or so later and it would work fine for a while. I should have read some of these reviews before I wasted my time.It really should be taken off the market.My question to everyone is which program is usable?Does Communicate Deluxe function?
Thanks.

Winfax trouble
I havebeen using this product since winfax lite, (around 1995).Back then, windows was not as extensive and burdened with drivers and registry files. In theory, this is an excellent program, allowing an orderly record of all of your faxes ever sent.The unfortunate reality, is that this program will make your Windows PC behave as if it has a virus, and you will spend enormous amounts of time trying to find a virus and attempting to figure out why the system crashes whenever you try to do anything, most noteable, Microsft Word, and Dragon Naturally Speaking.Very few if any T/S people will be able to find a problem.

Be prepared to spend lots of downtime and time problem solving if you put this program on a PC running windows.

Don't Buy if You Have DSL
This program is virtually unuseable if you intend to use it on the same phone line that brings your DSL.This is true even if you place a filter on the connection to your modem.This is made clear on Symantec's support pages, but is excluded from its promotional material.An unethical practice in my opinion.Given Amazon's own uncomplimentary review, one wonders why they sell this product.

BUYER BEWARE!
Once upon a time, Win Fax Pro had a decent program.Today, NOT!
And certainly not with XP.The technical advisor was in India (out sourced) and I, unwittingly and unknowingly, allowed him to crash my entire system.Complain?To where?India fields the calls.Please pay attention to this horror story.Don't purchase any version (10.0 and over). ... Read more

Features

• Offers multiple profiles and is Internet ready and AppleScript compatible
• Dictate, transcribe, edit, format, and speech navigate within any application
• Transcription can generate text from WAV and AIFF audio files
• Easily correct, update, and teach iListen new words and phrases
• Extensive vocabulary of more than 330,000 words

Reviews (1)

iListen review for the Alaska Apple Users' Group

When the time came to write this review, I unfortunately came down with a case of laryngitis and therefore found the review quite a bit more challenging! I then worked on trying to get the program to deal with my hoarse voice... but iListen came through pretty well, and I wrote this review with very little use of the keyboard.

IListen is, quite simply, a powerful, comprehensive voice recognition and command system for the Macintosh. It uses a system of recognizing sounds and putting them into context to create words or commands on your Mac (horrific oversimplification). I have played around with systems like this in the past, and I'll admit that I have been less than impressed with the results. The voice recognition system that comes with OS 9 and 10 certainly didn't hold up to hard use (and doesn't have a dictation mode, anyway) and my interest in a robust system is more than a passing interest, in that my work requires me to dictate large quantities of text at very high rate of speed. Accuracy and ability to easily correct my errors are also paramount to me, and so it was with great interest that I loaded up iListen and set about trying to use it for simple home applications.

Set up of the program was very easy, and with a little bit of messing around with system preferences I got the program fully working. There is a somewhat lengthy initial period of training the program to recognize your voice, which consists of reading chunks of text into this system so that it can learn your particular style of speech. Interestingly enough, the program is also capable of assimilating text documents you have already made to try and learn your style of writing.The more time and effort you put into the training period (both initially and along the way, any time you like), the better the program does with your speech.


IListen has several modes of function, including a dictation mode, a spelling mode, and a command mode. There is a great deal of customizability to the system, and you can certainly add extra words, your own macros, and your own phonetics. The program is engineered to recognize natural, full-speed speech:no awkward pauses or exaggerations - you just talk, fast as you like, in your normal speaking style.You can use iListen to dictate documents in virtually any program, and you can even just use the program to command your Mac in a hands-free manner. There is quite a bit of learning involved in getting all of the available commands down, but the program is surprisingly flexible, and I'm confident that with frequent use it will continue to just get better and better at its job.

Ideally, I would love to challenge this program by taking it to my office, seeing an entire schedule of patients, and then dictating all my encounters for that day into the program at my regular full-bore speed, just to see how well it handles my mumbling, my medical jargon, and my particular and at times unconventional syntax. Unfortunately, there are some privacy laws that are going to get in the way of that experiment, but in the future I certainly could see myself getting a hand-held Dictaphone and plugging it into a computer at the end of the day, correcting my dictations, and then printing them so that they can go back into the chart that day! (And for quite a bit less than the cost of transcription, the fees for which are sizable.)


After some initial growing pains, I must say that I have been impressed with the results this program can produce. Even with a fairly rudimentary training period, the accuracy of the program is reasonably good, even now as I sit here and dictate this review, recovering from laryngitis.

Overall, I found the program to be quite flexible and customizable, and greatly capable of learning from its mistakes. Its initial recognition rate is quite good, and the percentage improves with more time and effort put into training the program. And mentally, the "widget factor" is quite substantial, but in all seriousness the implications of programs like this are potentially important in fields that involve dictation and voice commands. Obviously people who can't use their hands and fingers have had use for programs like this for quite some time, and those possibilities are exciting as well.

Initially, I thought I had found the program to be buggy in getting correction mode going properly, but found that I simply had not set the System preferences properly (as the instructions had stated), and after setting the universal access preferences properly, I had no further significant problems in using this program. I tested the program on a high end G5 Macintosh with plenty of physical RAM, and I found performance to be excellent; I'm not sure how iListen would fare on a slower system, but I've seen user reports on the net that indicate that its performance is satisfactory on G3 PowerBooks.

Although I have not used any competing products (e.g., Via Voice), I rate this program highly and would recommend that anyone with an interest in putting voice recognition to work for them give iListen a try.One caveat, though: iListen requires a quality microphone (preferably a headset) to function optimally; I bought a Telex H-851 microphone use for this review, and I've found its performance to be very good with iListen.The MacSpeech website lists compatible microphone hardware, and as of the time of this review, the iSight is not among the compatible devices listed (I think its microphone is not directional enough to work well with iListen). ... Read more

Product Description

Scansoft Dragon Naturally Speaking 7.0 Preferred.Unleash the power of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred - advance to a higher level of productivity! Speak, and your words appear in memos, letters, reports, and e-mail. Dragon NaturallySpeaking learns your voice in minutes and works with virtually all Windows-based applications. Special commands for Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, and Microsoft Outlook make it a snap to manage your e-mail and documents. This full-featured speech recognition solution lets you create dictation shortcuts to automate routine paragraphs, customize the vocabulary with terms you use, and replay what you said for easy proofreading. Use it on your PC or with any ScanSoft-certified hand-held recorder (sold separately). ... Read more

Reviews (34)

The software works as advertised
I recently purchased Naturally Speaking 7.0 preferred to use in digitizing our family's genealogy histories, and received the program last night.After playing around with the program last night and this morning, I can report that it works surprisingly well; I had high hopes for this software, and they have all been met.After completing the online tutorials, the software was very efficient in understanding my voice.When it didn't pick up a word (it wouldn't understand me when I said "approximately" or my wife when she said "wow"), I used the add vocabulary function and "trained" the program to understand the new word.I found that the program instantly recognized what I had just added.

It runs well on my Windows XP (AMD 3ghz, 1 gig memory), and I haven't noticed any difference in quality when working in the dragonpad or word (which has been mentioned by some reviewers).The playback function (it will play back a recording of your voice from anywhere in a document you just entered) is very useful in identifying and correcting translation mistakes (wish Preferred version allowed me to save the digital file - only in Pro).I am using a Plantronics Audio90 headset, and am happy with the results (the A90 mic is very good, the earphones fairly comfortable; after an hour's use, I didn't experience any discomfort).The select, mark-up, and cursor moving functions are very intuitive, and I can foresee that, with a little practice and time getting to know the software, it will become second-nature to dictate.Both my wife and I set up user files, and there was no problem moving between each of those.

While I haven't used the program for very long, I'm very impressed, and I'm not easily impressed re: technology.I highly recommend v 7.0 preferred (and, incidentally, can't imagine why anyone would need v.8).

Better than I expected
I am writing this review by using the actual product itself.I will not correct any mistakes it makes.As you can see, my accuracy level is fairly high, and I am very satisfied with the progress I have made so far.This is only my second day using the product, and already I have used it to send numerous e-mail, Word files, Excel files, and reviews such as this one.I can't tell you how exciting it is to see the spoken word appear as if by magic on the screen without having to touch the keyboard at all.This product is amazing!I will recommend it to all my friends and family without hesitation.I'm pretty confident that over the next few days as it recognises my voice more and more, I will overtake my typing speed and my whole desktop computing experience will become a hands-free zone.This this product will revolutionise the way we were, and I'm fairly sure that in the next three to five years voice recognition software will become far more mainstream and it is today.

My wild tip for getting the best out of this product is to make sure that you have a decent microphone and that you have positioned it correctly, in my case I have found that about 1 in. away from my mouth is just about right.Also, please do not skip the training section, if you spend a couple of hours diligently doing White says, then the payoff will be significant in the future.

So this is the end of my review.I have not use my hands once.There are a couple of mistakes, but I think the accuracy rate is up to about 95% in this review.Pretty amazing when you consider that I have only had the product for two days!My congratulations to all those involved with this product, and I cannot wait for future upgrades.Thank you one and all.

NY Times Video of how Dragon Works
DNS 8 is awesome!See the video

[...]

Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred Version 8 Might do it!
I read all the horror stories about Dragon Naturally Speaking version 7, and was reluctant to purchase the product.I also read reviews about IBM ViaVoice, and was reluctant to purchase that one as well.I subsequently decided to get Dragon Naturally Speaking version 7 based purely on features available.However, my local retailer was out of the product and informed me that version 8 was soon to be released.
I bit the bullet last night and purchased Naturally Speaking Preferred version 8, and hoped that I would not have the same problems that many of the previous reviewers had with version 7.
I opened the package, put in the CD-ROM and proceeded with the install wizard.My first attempt was a relative disaster, giving an error number 1335, explaining that there was a cab file that could not be found because: either there was a network error; or an error reading from the CD-ROM; or that there was actually a problem with the package from the vendor.I searched the CD-ROM and could not find the cab file that had been mentioned in the error message. So, I tried the installation one more time.This time it worked.My next step was to plug in the microphone and headset that came with the package.I went through the initial training of the microphone and setting sound levels, and got an indication that while the levels were not very good, they were understandable.
My next trials and tribulations occurred when I was actually trying to train the program for my voice.This is when my computer started freezing and I had to keep on rebooting the computer.And then I had a brainstorm!I decided to plug the microphone into the back of the computer rather than to the microphone jack on the front of my computer.Ever since I did that, the program has been working wonderfully!
The program is doing a fairly decent job of recognizing my voice after only 30 minutes of training.I did take the time to go through the 14 slide tutorial, and that may have given the program more opportunity to recognize my speech patterns.I have used it in Word Dragon Pad with success.I have had several problems with Internet Explorer since installing the program.I cannot confirm that these problems are because of Naturally Speaking since these problems were beginning after I installed service pack 2.
I will caution you to either put your microphone to sleep or to turn it off when the telephone rings.I forgot to do this and had a very interesting insertion in the file I was working on at the time.Nothing like humor to lighten your day!
I'm using voice recognition to create this review.Because I am new at this, I did correct errors made in voice-recognition.It was easy to do while I was dictating.Doing so gave me practice in learning how this program works, and in the voice commands available for correcting.
I'm running Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred version 8 on a Dell XPS (Pentium 4, 3Ghz, one gig of RAM), using Windows XP home for my operating system.I had previously installed Service Pack two.For now I'm using the microphone that came with the package and do not think I am experiencing adverse results.
When I initially had the installation problems, I did visit ScanSoft web site's technical support.As previous reviewers have noted, there is zilch for technical support.Fortunately, by plugging the microphone into the rear of the computer, I no longer have the computer-freeze problem; so I am not in a position where I need technical support.Let's hope I never actually DO need tech support.
With my limited one day's experience, I will give this product 4 stars, and will return at a later date to give an update on his review.
If you are considering this product, I do say go cautiously, and heed the previous reviews which have been rated as useful by most readers of the reviews.They all have good and bad things to say about the product, and help with the overall decision-making process.
But, maybe this Version 8 has fixed some of the major bugs.Keeping my fingers crossed (and hopefully my tongue NOT tied!).

I think they've got it!
I've used DNS since v.4 and this is the only one that met the expectation when I first began using the product.Also it's much easier in this product to correct and add new words.

I was so excited about how well it works that I bought a Sony ICD-BM1 digital recorder.It should arrive today!This recorder supposedly takes dication and via USB translates the text into text via DNS.DNS rates this product 5 Dragons.It's not an inexpensive product; but hey, if it works it will save so much time!I'll do another review on using DNS with it after I've used it. ... Read more

Product Description

IBM ViaVoice Pro USB Edition is the flagship offering of the ViaVoice for Windows, Release 10 product line. It represents the merger of high-productivity software with advanced microphone technology. Pro USB Edition offers great dictation versatility; dictate, edit, and correct text in SpeakPad, the resident speech-enabled word processor, or in Word, Excel, and other applications within the Microsoft Office product suites, including Office XP, or directly into a variety of other PC applications. Pro USB supports Windows XP Professional and Home, Windows 98SE, Me and 2000 operating systems.

Pro USB Edition expands the usefulness of the powerful Navigation Macro Center found in earlier generations of IBM ViaVoice for Windows. With Pro USB, users can create macros that will run across multiple applications. In addition, users can now control the speed at which their macros run.

Pro USB Edition supports the use of select digital handheld recorders.

Pro USB Edition is the IBM desktop voice recognition product that features IBM ViaVoice Documents -- Microsoft Word-based customized templates for letters, reports, faxes, and e-mails -- and VoiceMarks, which can read the name of a customized navigation macro to the user as an audio confirmation that the macro is being run correctly.

Features

• Noise-cancelling USB headset microphone included
• IBM ViaVoice Documents and Voice Marks
• Digital handheld recorder support
• Portable navigation macros

Features

• Powerful dictation software that works with most Microsoft applications
• Create macros that run across multiple applications; you control their speed
• Supports the use of select digital handheld recorders
• Works with IBM ViaVoice and VoiceMarks
• Noise-canceling USB headset microphone included

Reviews (8)

Software ok, support, terrible
If I were going to rate the software alone, it would be a four. However, you had better not have any problems with it, as the support is non-existent.When I reluctantly agreed to pay for support and asked for help, they never got back to me.

Fantastic
I see on this site that most people did not like this product. Well, I did. At first it was a dissapointment, but after I did lots of voice testing and corrections, it was great. No hands are needed and it is relitivley fast. Great Buy.

Crashes, crashes, crashes - DO NOT BUY
Installed ViaVoice 10 in Windows XP Pro...

And sometimes it opens and sometimes it doesn't. Mainly doesn't.

Then I find this...via Google..

Problem:

After launching Dragon or ViaVoice and clicking a link in one of the menus, the system locks up or freezes. Other symptoms include Dragon NaturallySpeaking's Select-and-Say or ViaVoice's dictation and commands fail in Microsoft Office XP applications, such as Word and Microsoft Outlook.

Cause:

Microsoft Office XP's "Alternate User Input" installs a background process called CTFMON.exe which can interfere with Dragon or ViaVoice. The following information was taken from the Microsoft website:

"...Ctfmon.exe monitors the active windows and provides text input service support for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, keyboard, translation, and other alternative user input technologies...."

And you can get NO, repeat, NO, help from ScanSoft.

DO NOT BUY!

do not buy it if you have mcafee internet security soft ware
IBM viavoice usbpro has major conflict issues with mcafee internet securitysuite(6.)Ibm redirects you to scansoft that has a lousy support which is charged to your credit card after the first free query;their online knowledge database is sparse and the tech personell seem to be reading their answers from algorhythms with background knowledge barely above the average customer's; Mcafee has a more extensive online database but no free tech support phone calls; problems of conflict between the softwares were related to TCP/IP port (viavoice apparently works through an open port) and to speech engine conflicts;none could resolve these issues;such issues in my opinion can only be resolved by interdisciplinary programmers;short of this the choice is one software verses the other

Terrible Support - Many Installation Problems
An earlier ViaVoice installation 3 years ago went fine and the product was pretty useful and accurate enough for my purposes.

ViaVoice version 10 however has been a nightmare.I still have not been able to install it on a Win2K-SP4 computer.I am a fairly advanced computer programmer/systems person with 20+ years of experience.

Support is virtually non-existent from Scansoft.My 30 days of free support from IBM where I purchased the product has not been honored.All support has to come from Scansoft.

Great features, if you can access them.I am seriously thinking of demanding my money back.Washington State has some very consumer friendly laws regarding "Fitness for Purpose", one more reason I am grateful to live in the Northwest. ... Read more

Features

• Send personalized emails; send up to 1,000 emails per hour
• Easily manage mail list and address book
• Select from over 20 mailing templates
• Import data from popular databases; intuitive data-entry screen
• Customize mailings with easy-to-use design tools