Although Via Voice Pro is a little pricey, it comes with a top quality Platronics USB headset with integrated microphone. The Pro version may be worth the additional cost over the regular version just for this excellent, comfortable headset.   Installation is simple. Just install the software, plug the headphones into a USB port and you are ready to go. Well, that is, except for the time that it takes to get the computer to become familiar with your voice. Expect to spend at least twenty minutes reading to the computer. If you are smart, you will invest even more time by reading more stories that are provided. In my testing, this greatly improved the accuracy of the computer in recognizing my voice accurately.

Once you start using the program you will need to invest a little time into correcting the computer. If the computer consistently makes a mistake on a certain word you can pop a correction box where you show the computer the correct word. After several corrections, the computer is smart enough to make this correction part of its recognition of your voice. You need to speak slowly and clearly without slurring words, and you also need to avoid taking heavy breaths between words which the computer may recognize as a word. Actually, you must learn to work with this program, just as it must learn to work with you. While the program is quickly usable right out of the box, reading the included manual and help screens can help you extract useful tips for using the program. While this all takes a certain amount of patience for a new user, the payoff will be the ability to dictate to your computer and have the computer do the typing for you.

With the Pro version of this software, you can also give the computer commands to open new programs, like Word, Excel and Internet Explorer. If you use AOL, Netscape Messenger, Outlook Express, or Outlook, you can also use ViaVoice to write e-mail messages. Just ask “What Can I Say for Active Program”, and a box will pop up with all the appropriate commands. For instance, in Word, you can use verbal commands like: “Cancel”, “Print Document”, “Enter”, and “OK”. When you issue a command like “Save File”, ViaVoice will confirm by verbally telling you that it is saving the document.

ViaVoice has a vocabulary of over 300,000 words, and you can add words that you use often. This is one smart program. You can even have it search through document that you have already written. It will find all the words that you have used that are not in its dictionary. You then pronounce these words for the computer, and the computer will be able to recognize these words accurately the next time you use them.

Remember, all voice recognition programs need plenty of computing power. The faster and more powerful your computer is, the better the program will run. So don’t even consider this program if you have an old or slow computer. Also, the exact requirements vary by operating system, so be sure to check the IBM Web site or the ViaVoice box before you purchase.

ViaVoice has a ton of great features including transcription support for selected digital handheld recorders. So what’s not to like? First, running ViaVoice, at times slows down the response time of Microsoft Word, the program in which I used it the most. Since I move very quickly on the computer, this was very aggravating. Also, ViaVoice creates temporary files that populate the Recently Used Document file, and most recently used file list under the File Menu item in Microsoft Word. If you use either of these two functions, you will find this annoying.

Although there are a few minor irritations and a time investment, ViaVoice is more than willing to be your typist.