I recently purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking 10, Preferred Edition. Installing the software turned out to be a headache. The Windows installer took a long time and finally exited with an error code (Error 1722). I looked up the error code on Nuance's website (Nuance is the publisher of Dragon). The guidance from Nuance led my on a wild goose chase, changing settings in Windows that made no difference. It took several hours to figure out the problem, but it seems as if Dragon is incompatible with Comodo software. I had used Task Manager to make sure that NOTHING was running except for Windows itself when I installed Dragon, but that wasn't good enough. I had to completely uninstall and delete Comodo from my hard drive. After I did that, the install process for Dragon went smoothly.

I now have Dragon Naturally Speaking installed and I have used it to write several reports. It works fairly well. Nuance claims that Dragon Naturally Speaking can achieve up to 99% accuracy. That seems like a pretty big stretch to me. I am getting about 85% accuracy. Nonetheless, 85% accuracy is good enough to be helpful. I will continue using the program.

Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 is now working well on our computer with the Windows Vista 64 bit operating system.
We ordered this software with the headset included.
Save your money and order it without the headset!!!!!!
Once we purchased a Logitech ClearChat Comfort Headset for Vista with a USB connection, all our problems were solved.

I bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking about a month ago. I found it easy to install on my computer. I have a Gateway laptop with 4 GB of RAM and 250 GB hard drive. There was no installation problems at all. I do have one recommendation though that you replace the headset that comes with the software with a better USB model. With a better microphone near accuracy will be more consistent. It is also important to follow the instructions of being consistent where you placed the microphone each time you put on the headset. Other than that little piece of advice all you have to do is use it every day and you will improve as it improves.

I think Dragon NaturallySpeaking is enough standing product of the disabled. Those who have hand difficulties or disabilities but still can speak somewhat clearly will think this product is a revolution in the freedom to communicate. Because once you get used to the idea of talking to your computer and formulating your thoughts that way. It becomes very natural to do so. Because editing, formatting, and working with tables and presentations while barely touching the keyboard will be will become commonplace.

I also believe that the student will benefit or more greatly with the use of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Think of it if you will does student being able to write reports, term papers, and even masters and doctoral theses all with the use of his or her voice. The student will be able to sit in a quiet corner of the library and if need be take verbal notes or one of his many papers. This will especially be true for the disabled student. A will enjoy the end of the hunt and peck process of typing. The only thing the student will have to worry about is not spelling the grammar. Because you still need to proofread your work to make sure it is grammatically correct and that you catch all the other mistakes you may have made. So in closing, I highly recommend

I have an arm injury which makes keyboarding really painful for me after 5 minutes. Not only did it restore my ability to write, it took it to new levels. If you go into it realizing you will need to 'train' the program to your voice by making corrections occasionally, which is really easy to do, you will be in good shape. I am beyond happy with it! I am writing more and feeling more freed up creatively too.

I upgraded from Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 9.5 to version 10.1. I was motivated by the fact that I was upgrading my operating system to Windows 7. There are no versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking below version 10.1 that will work either on Windows 7, or on a 64-bit operating system. So if you are getting a new computer, and you want to use Dragon, you will definitely have to buy version 10.1.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the upgraded version is more accurate than the older version. It is also extremely easy to train. I dictated several paragraphs to the program, taking less than one half hour, and that was all it took for the program to start recognizing my speech accurately. I do back up my user files to use when I reinstall my operating system, but there is really not that much need to do that since the program is so easy to train. Another feature related to training that may interest prospective buyers is that when you set the program up you can specify a number of English dialects, including Southern, Great Lakes region, Spanish accented, Indian accented, British, etc.

I found that installing this program was only moderately aggravating. I believe that you need to close certain applications before the installation will complete, and sometimes doing this involves invoking the task manager. The last time I installed it, it offered to close the offending applications itself, and the installation process went fairly smoothly.

I like to joke that Dragon NaturallySpeaking always spells everything correctly, but it doesn't necessarily get all the words just right, so a spellchecker is useless in picking up the glitches of the program. And there are glitches. I find that in general I have to make a correction or two every paragraph. For example, in the previous paragraph, Dragon interpreted the word my as being may. The glitches may be corrected verbally very easily, though occasionally you may want to type in the correct word. I find in general that I am able to produce text much more quickly using Dragon then by typing, and my hands appreciate not having to actually type. Since I got acclimatized to using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, I will reach for my headset out of habit before tackling my e-mail or dictating text such as what I am creating now.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking it is natively compatible with Microsoft programs, though it is hit and miss with other programs. For example, I use Thunderbird as my e-mail client, and I have to make allowances for the fact that Dragon does not dictate well into the e-mail pane. The workaround is very easy: establish a cursor where you want to start dictating, then click tools> dictation box, and then you're able to dictate whatever you want into the dictation box. When you want to transfer your text into the text pane, click or say "Transfer", and your text appears where you want it to be. Sometimes you can be surprised as to what Dragon will work with. My instant messenger is AIM, and Dragon NaturallySpeaking works perfectly well with it so I can talk rather than typing the text messages.

Another issue with Dragon NaturallySpeaking is microphones. It ships with a cheap headset microphone that you can use to get started with. You'll find, however, that upgrading to a noise canceling headset microphone increases your dictation accuracy rather sharply. I would advise looking for a USB microphone in the $30 and up range if shopping for an upgrade. One lesson that I found out the hard way is that if you start dictating with one microphone, and then you acquire another microphone and want to start dictating with that, the user profile for the previous microphone will not recognize your speech. What you need to do if you upgrade your microphone is to start a new user profile. This is how you do it: click "naturally speaking", then go to "manage users", and then click "new". This will get you started creating a new user profile. You will need to go through training again, but I do not consider this to be a real big deal, personally.

I REALLY like this program, and I would not consider going without it. I recommend it to anybody who either has trouble typing or does a lot of typing, in fact I recommend it to anybody who might be interested!

I bought the Naturally Speaking 10.1 Preferred in Spanish. I love this product and am amazed at its accuracy. I was so impressed, in fact, that the same day that I installed the software I called Nuance and after two conversations (one phone, one chat) with one sales representative, I bought the English version with express shipping. The shipping took less than 24 hours, but to my surprise, the English software did not install properly and after repeated tries, I called technical support at Nuance, the company that sells the Dragon software. It turns out that the Spanish version ALREADY HAS ENGLISH on it. The sales rep must have counseled me to buy a useless second product because she didn't know that the Spanish version already had what I needed (?). At any rate, it took almost an hour on the phone for me to realize the problem and then attempt to navigate the technical support and customer service circuits. Finally, I was told by an incredibly irritating customer service manager named Hans that the problem was my responsibility and that I needed to ship the product back at my expense. So...please learn a lesson from my wasted morning. If you buy the Spanish software, call it a day. In sum: fabulous product, infuriating sales team behind the product.

We issued this product to about 15 different employees. We gave a 1 hour class and all has been well. Everyone has had good things to say (easy to use, very responsive to my voice). This product is replacing a very expensive dictaphone system. It gives us the same flexibility as the server based system with a fraction of the cost.

Broke my hand and thus Email a problem. This software worked well. While not always 100% accurate, the more you use it the more it learns and the accuracy goes up. I'd recommend.

This is a pretty cool product that allows you to speak naturally and types everything you said you say. The only issue is trying to learn to speak into a microphone instead of typing in your thoughts so they need to be clear and concise, which is harder than you think. Your speech needs to be clear and concise for the computer to understand what you're saying in order to interpret it properly when typing in. Overall I'm very satisfied with this product and would recommend it.
I was able to use it in order to complete my thesis paper which is extremely helpful.

After much difficulty this program now works very well on my computer. But the speech quality provided by the microphone in the set was not accepted by the Dragon software. I had to buy a better headset from those listed on the Nuance website. So buy the software alone, not with the headset.

I had a problem installing the program. I spent an hour and fifteen minutes with a helpful tech support person who finally resolved the glitches. So you may experience problems, but once working, the program is excellent. Also pay atttention to the sound card requirements listed on the Nuance web site (SoundBlaster, etc), and choose a computer with one of the recommended cards.