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Using Dragon but need help, please - FlaMT

Posted: Dec 05, 2009

Just got Dragon 10. Install and setup went smoothly (although tedious) and was using it without a problem for almost a week. Then one day it just stopped working. The program won't even start.

Anyone else have this problem and if so, how'd you fix it? I want to avoid reinstalling it since it already has several user profiles set up and was working well.

Also, I noticed it's a HUGE resource hog and I really can't run anything else at the same time. Is this normal?

Thanks for any tips!

try these suggestions - Snow Bunny

[ In Reply To ..]
Pop in the CD and you'll be offered the options to reinstall, repair, or uninstall. Choose repair. It shouldn't take too long to complete. When it's done, exit out of the program as usual (I think you click Done or Finish) and then reboot your system. Try starting Dragon again. If it reboots, all is well. If it doesn't, then you're going to have to uninstall the program and reinstall it. HOWEVER, the good news is when you go to uninstall it you will be askd if you want to save your user files. Choose Yes. After the program is removed from your system, reinstall it again. It should zero in on your saved user files when it installs.

Yes, Dragon is a huge memory hog, which is why you need at least two 2 MB of memory (but more is better). It's possible that your system is loading too many other programs it doesn't really need. Without starting Dragon, click on Start and in the open box type "msconfig" (without the quotes) and hit Enter. When the box opens up, click on the Startup tab and unclick everything you don't absolutely need to load when your system starts. Click Apply, OK. Reboot your system. After it's up, start Dragon first (always) and the open anything else you need for your job.

If you're still having problems, email me and I'll try to help you tweak things via email.

Thank You! - FlaMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Thank you so much for those suggestions! I was going to reinstall the software but didn't want to lose my profiles, so thanks for letting me know that it does let you save them for use later. Very helpful info.

As for the resource thing...sounds like the amount of memory is the issue. I have an older PC and only has 1 GB so DNS is probably using every bit of available memory I have when running. I may just take my son's PC (he never uses the thing) and upgrade the memory, just for use with DNS so I can work on other things while that's running.

Again, thanks so much for the help! I'll let you know if I have any other issues.

increasing resources - Snow Bunny

[ In Reply To ..]
Besides having sufficient memory, you also need a system that has a fast enough CPU. If your son's PC is also running at 2 Ghz, then it should work well for you.

One thing I didn't mention is the backups. There are two with Dragon you need to make. The first is a complete backup of your user files. I don't know where they are in XP, but if you have Vista you should find them here:

c:programdata
uance
aturallyspeaking10users

You will want to copy the entire directory to a safe location, such as an external hard drive. The reason for this is ... over time the Dragon files can become corrupt and when that happens you will need to recreate them all over again, from scratch. To avoid that, you want to make a backup of that directory right now, which will help to avoid the creation and training process if you ever have to reinstall things. Also, in Dragon you will want to periodically export your word lists. While in Dragon click on Words | Export. You might under in a subdirectory of the program. I like to backup my words to the same location (external hard drive) that I have the User files backup to. Same as before. If you ever have to reinstall things, you won't have to rebuild your word lists all over again. Just import them through Tools | Import.

Thanks again! - FlaMT

[ In Reply To ..]
Wow...lots of info, Thanks!

Since you obviously use this a lot, and I'm just starting with it...do you find that it's worth all the time training/correcting, etc compared to the cost? I have Preferred 10 and I'm almost certain I'm not using it efficiently (only had it for about a week) and am hoping to figure out the features soon. I find the tutorial/help very lacking when it comes to specific details on how to do things (i.e. how to insert a template, use a form, making corrections to docs that will update profiles, etc.)

Also, how often do you find that files become corrupt and need re-installing? I did read somewhere that ppl were having problems with DNS pretty much becoming pretty much unusable within 10 minutes before having to shut it down and restarting (luckily, I didn't have any of those problems until near the end of my first week, but that was after about 2 hrs of usage). I'd just hate to put all "my eggs in 1 basket" then constantly having problems with it.

more help is on the way - Snow Bunny

[ In Reply To ..]
For me, it was definitely worth the training and correcting. The first key is not using it 100% of the time. You have to work up gradually, maybe one hour on and one hour off. It gives your voice a rest (always keep water close by) and youâ��ll still be able to produce a decent line count while youâ��re improving the accuracy.

The first thing you need to do is dictate correctly. Go here:
http://www.emicrophones.com/articles/index.asp

Check out the top three links for how to dictate and not dictate. Dictating correctly is as important as having the correct sound card and microphone, maybe more so. In other words, you can own a $50,000 car but it won't matter too much if you donâ��t have good driving skills.

Also, another thing youâ��ll need to learn over time is how to listen and dictate at the same time. Initially, you might want to listen to a group of words and then repeat them, but as you get used to things youâ��ll be able to listen and echo-dictate at the same time. Thatâ��s whatâ��ll kick up your line count.

The tutorial is really just something to get you up and running. Youâ��re going to need a more detailed manual to work with. I have some PDF files on my system that I can E-mail over to you.

Youâ��ll know you have corrupt voice files when you start getting error messages and/or your accuracy starts to deteriorate. Figure, maybe once a year. If DNS was causing that much difficulty from the start, itâ��s likely that the people who had the problems didnâ��t know where to find solutions.

Question: Did you go through the process of document analyzing? Thatâ��s really important to having a high level of accuracy right at the start. Also, adding words to the dictionary. If you have a list in text format, thatâ��s all you need. Things get imported through the Accuracy Center.

You ARE a DNS Guru! - FlaMT

[ In Reply To ..]

Before it went kaput on me, it was doing really well right out of the box as far as accuracy. I did 1 training session and it improved quite a bit. I was doing the "listen and dictate" thing and found that it wasn't too hard, depending on the MD. Some of them speak with terrible grammar and weird sentence structure while others were very natural to follow.

I'm starting to think that I got hosed regarding who I bought this from (seller on Ebay). I think it may be a bootleg because when I went to re-install it, I got an error telling me that the serial number was invalid, which would make sense because it probably got "zapped" the minute it tried to run an online update. But now I can't get it to un-install because it says there are missing processes and can't run the uninstall wizard. I tried using the Add/Remove function in windows for this but it automatically tries to start the DNS wizard and I always end up at the same place...nowhere. I went ahead and manually removed as many files I could find but I don't want to mess with the registry so I'm sure they're lingering there also. This was the first time I bought software off of Ebay so now I've learned an expensive lesson in that regards. I checked out Nuance and they have a sale going on so I'll be heading over there next.

Thanks so much for all of your help! I'm sure once I get a legit program in my hands, I'll be hitting you up for help again, LOL.

No, just another underworked MT - Snow Bunny

[ In Reply To ..]
Before the next version arrives, you need to copy the Users directory containing the user files you created to a separate location. Next, if you have DNS 10 Preferred (I think you said you did), there is a file that will "purge" Dragon 10 from your system. You can download it from here:

http://knowledgebase.nuance.com/view.asp?60VQ=KFJH&5d7r4B=JDDF

After you get the disks from Nuance, reinstall the program and go through the setup of one user (yourself) and training as you did before. Then, close down the product. Copy the backup directory back to the original location and then start Dragon again. Doing this will keep you from having to recreate all of the users all over again.

Question: I just read this whole exchange sm - ??

[ In Reply To ..]
between you and Snow Bunny. I'm curious, are you purchasing your own VR program and then dictating into it what you hear from the dictators? Are you doing this so you don't have to type? I may be way off, I just don't know very much at all about VR.

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