WinTalks offers many more features and is constantly being improved. Registered users are entitled to download upgrades free of charge!

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The main features of WinTalks are:

• Reading of all text documents (in various languages and voices);
• "Live" speaking of words during the typing of texts
• Direct keyboard intercept ("hook"): every typed text in any application will be read out loud!
• Accepts your voice commands by means of speech recognition software, like Freespeech by Philips;
• Informative features: Speaking clock, time, date, talking notebook etc.
• Speaking calculator: addition, subtraction. multiplication, division, square root, sine, cosine, tangent, arctangent, logarithm, pi, etc.;
• Letter by letter Spelling of words;
• Retrieving and speaking of information from your own (self-programmed) Encyclopedia;
• Programmable response by "Hal" your speaking and conversing companion
• Linkage with well known word processors, like MS-WORD and WORDPAD;
• Retrieving and speaking of information in The MS Encarta encyclopedia;
• Speaking E-mails! (using Outlook Express);
• Preparation and  speaking E-mails that need to be sent;
• Adjustable voice: Pitch and speed, word pauses etc.;
• Very large number of user-defined settings;
• A special mode for speaking the contents of the Windows Clipboard; any text you copy to the Clipboard will be read out aloud.

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If you want to make best use everything WinTalks has to offer then the following software is desirable:

• Windows-95/98 of Windows-2000/ME/NT or even XP
• Microsoft Word for Windows of MS WordPad (Wordprocessor)
• Outlook Express (for E-mail)
• Encarta, Encyclopedia
• Freespeech by Philips (Speech recognition) or other

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Regrettably in today's world it has become a global sport to crack software or to find other ways to use software without paying for it. What people tend to forget is that software makers will no longer be encouraged to enhance existing products or write new software. It is for this reason that we have decided to defend our interests by means of a copy protection. WinTalks is not expensive. Please do not attempt to crack it. If you like WinTalks, please pay for it.

Warning

The procedure 

1. Start WINTALKS;
2. Click on "HELP/REGISTER" and select "Move WinTalks to other PC"
3. Follow the instructions on the screen!
4. WinTalks will now be uninstalled from your current PC and a MOVE code will appear.
5. Note this MOVE code on a piece of paper. (If you forget to do so: You will find the code also in the file "UNWINSP.TXT" located in the WinTalks directory).
6. Install the WinTalks software on the other PC and report the MOVE code together with the new ACCESS code to DSH electronics by Email. We will then send you a new key.

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A unique feature is WinTalkss' ability to read any text aloud, independent of the application in which you type this text. The "Keyboard intercept" (if ON)  monitors every button you press on your keyboard and passes this character BOTH to the application in which you are working AND to WinTalks! This is cleaver technology that so far no other competing product offers.

The second important feature of WinTalks is the Clipboard monitor feature. Any text that you select with your mouse in ANY application and copy to the Windows Clipboard (with "Paste" or CTRL+INSERT keys) will be read aloud. WinTalks continuously keeps an eye on the Clipboard and if its contents changes then the text will be read.

The third unique feature is the interactive communication that you can established with your computer. Turn your PC into an artificial intelligence machine! WinTalks offers enormous flexibility: to very large extent you can determine yourself what kind of dialog you wish to have. Besides small talk, basic interactive dialog, arithmetic and day to day matters, WinTalks is built round a large Q & A database that is already filled with information, but which you can modify and extend yourself almost without limitation and without impairing the speed of the interactive dialog.

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The easiest way to start WinTalks is via "START/Program's" or by double clicking  the WinTalks icon on your desktop.

• F1: Activate HELP: WinTalks will tell you the role of the main function key's
• F2: Go back to the main screen
• F3: Is NO (intended for interactive features for the Blind)
• F4: Is YES (ditto)
• F5: Read and speak current (last read) E-mail
• F6: Read and speak previous E-mail
• F7: Read and speak next E-mail
• F8: Send an E-mail (The text that you typed or loaded beforehand will be sent as message).
• F9: Start Microsoft WORD word processor
• F10: Start the Clipboard monitoring
• F11: Start the (Encarta) Encyclopedia
• F12: Read and speak the typed text (repeat is possible).

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MS-Word

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• Say this: "time" or "what is the time" or "what time is it" and Hal will tell you the time.
• Say this: "date" or "what date is it" or "what day is it" and Hal will tell you the date.
• Say this: "repeat" or "repeat please" or "say again" and Hal repeats the last sentence that he said before.
• Say this: "name" or "what is your name" and Hal says his name (or something else..).
• Say this: "speak" or "what did I say" and Hal repeats what you just said to him. This feature is especially intended to see whether Hal understood you correctly while using speech recognition software.
• Say this: "spell" or "spelling" (followed by any word) and Hal will spell this word letter by letter.
• Say this: "info" and Hal gives information about WINTALKS.

• Say this: "Encarta" and Hal will start the Encarta encyclopedia. (Don't forget to first put the Encarta CD-ROM in your drive or install Encarta entirely on your hard disk)
• Say this: "word" and Microsoft Word  will be started (provided it is installed on your PC).
• Say this: "seek" or "find" or "look up" followed by what you are looking for and Hal will look it up in Encarta. For example: say this: "find Amsterdam".

• Response by Hal: you can program yourself how Hal responds to what you say to him
• Your own speaking (self-programmable) encyclopedia (using the "Knowall" database)
• Speaking calculator: Hal can perform the most difficult calculations and tell you the result
• Read E-Mails our aloud (using Outlook Express).

Also make sure that you have selected the correct Speech recognition software: see SETTINGS. If you communicate with Hal by means of the Keyboard, then set this setting to "NO SPEECH RECOGNITION" and give a hard return (ENTER) after you have typed in the commands and other texts that you use to have a dialog with Hal.

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The speaking calculator can do the four basic calculations between two numbers, namely add, subtract, divide and multiply. It can also do algebraic calculations.

When using 'add' you may replace the word "plus" by "and". Equally, when subtracting you may replace "minus" by "less" ; and 'multiply' by "times" and when dividing you may replace the word "divide" by "quotient" but not by "divide by"

Example: say this: "Calculate10 plus 12". Hal answers with "The sum of 10 and 12 is 22".

From version 3.0 onwards you can also directly enter a calculation like: "10+12".

Also algebraic calculations can be performed on single numbers:

Example: say this: "Calculate root 144". Hal responds with: "The square root of 144 is 12"

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• Say this: "who is ……"
• Say this: "what is ……"

For example you could say: "What is The capitol of Holland " and Hal will respond with "The capitol of Holland is Amsterdam". Basically this feature is straightforward: Hal compares your question with all the Questions that are stored in the "Knowall1.mdb" database and responds by giving the stored answer. The Code in the database determines in what order words, that can be found in the original Question, should be re-assembled to construct a linguistically correct answer. The numbers in the code simply are the word positions and "A" tells the software where to insert the Answer.

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General Settings

• General
• Speech manner
• Speech mode
• Voice-settings
• Characters
• Clock & Timer
• Human-ness

• Show Menu-bar: determines whether the Menu bar is shown at the top of the screen or not. If not, then you'll have to make do with the buttons.

• Blind preset: WinTalks will startup in a special mode for the blind or visually impaired (using the F1-F12 function keys)

• Path for saving settings: this gives the directory in which the WINTALKS.INI file is located. Normally  WinTalks selects this automatically. WinTalks uses this INI file to store all your settings. If necessary you can change this path by hand.

• Application: This determines which application will be started when you press the "application" button (the one with the Microsoft logo). You can select:
• ENCARTA (encyclopedia),
• MS-WINWORD (The well-known word processor)
• READ MAIL (reads all your E-mails aloud!),
• SEND MAIL (first type the text of the E-mails and then press the application button to send it,
• MS WORDPAD (small word processor),
• Automatic startup: The selected application will be immediately started as soon as you start WinTalks.

• Mini: do switch the 'mini" mode ON: this is intended for use in combination with The "ENCARTA" encyclopedia. as soon as you start Encarta (a small window with only 3 buttons will appear on top of the Encarta window.  If you switch 'mini' to OFF then Encarta WinTalks remains visible in letterbox format and Encarta will appear below WinTalks.

• ENCARTA 98 / 99 / 2000/2001/2002: you must select the right version of Encarta that you are using on your PC otherwise WinTalks will not be able to find nor use Encarta. We recommend that you install Encarta in its entirety on your Hard Disk.

• Speech recognition  this is where you should set which speech recognition software you are using. It is also possible not to use speech recognition but to communicate with Hal by using the Keyboard. In that case please select "NO speech recognition".

• Speak each word after typing: As soon as you enter a space after a word, WinTalks will interpret this as the end of a word and read the whole word to you.
• Read complete sentence: After typing a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark, WinTalks will see this as the end of a sentence and read the entire sentence out loud.
• Speak selected text elements: WinTalks can read parts of a text. This is done by selecting a part of the text with the mouse. As soon as the text has been selected and thus the background is blue, then this selection will be read aloud.
• Also speak unfinished words: this is a handy feature for the visually impaired as it allows the user of WinTalks to hear exactly what has been typed on the keyboard. As soon as a letter is added to a word then it will be read, whether the word is completed or not.
• Speak each typed letter: this feature is also intended for the visually impaired. Every letter that you type on the keyboard is read aloud.

• "Welcome to WINTALKS": WinTalks can speak this welcome message as soon as the program has been started
• "I am waiting for instructions": if WinTalks has nothing to do for about a minute you will hear this message.

• Speak radio-amateur call signs: this is a special feature for Ham-radio operators. Any call sign in the text will be automatically recognized and read using the Nato call sign spelling. For example "PA0DSH" will be read as "Papa Alpha Zero Delta Sierra Hotel".

• "Intelligent-mode": WinTalks will automatically determine how a number can at best be read. Years, dates, postal codes, telephone numbers and calculations will in most cases be recognized.!
• "Complete number": In this case WinTalks will read a number completely (with units, decades, hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, trillions etc.).
• "Digit by digit": Each digit in a number will be read separately.
• "In pairs": WinTalks will break up a number in pairs of two digits; especially handy when reading telephone numbers.

However, in mode-6, which is the normal mode for WinTalks then all voice controls are located on the WinTalks main screen and this tab has no use.

• SET: WinTalks will pronounce all special characters!
• RESET: WinTalks will pronounce none of the special characters.
• DEFAULT: this is our choice:  some characters will be spoken, others won't
• Skip between brackets: this is useful if you don't want WinTalks to speak text or numbers that are between brackets.

WinTalks can automatically tell you the time at regular intervals. The interval can be set between 0 and 60 seconds. If you wish to hear speaking clock then switch it to ON.

• It is
• It is now
• The time is
• Attention It is now
• Hello, The time is

WinTalks also offers a speaking calendar. Certain texts can be read out aloud at set moments. To use this feature, set the "speak timer texts" to on.

You can edit the texts and times yourself!

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For more information about our products, please visit our website or send an Email.

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