Software for voice commands (win xp)

I was looking at the software archives here at majorgeeks.com and saw a program called Realize Voice. The link didn't work - apparently the company doesn't exist anymore, but I was able to find a copy using eMule. I kind of like the idea of saying commands to my computer to start/exit programs, saving, and such.

In any case, I'm a bit hesitant to install Realize Voice 4.1 since it's probably fairly outdated. I googled for newer voice command software, but the only one I could find for windows XP was Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.5, which would be fine, but it's huge, mostly for dictation, and probably uses a lot of resources too.

There was another (freeware) program available at MG, KM Remote, less than a MB, but it was last updated in 2004. So any suggestions. I'm looking to use it for voice commands mostly, and maybe also to input special characters (i.e. key combinations) when typing up scientific docs. Any suggestions?

Or can SpeakingNaturally be installed in minimal form to spare CPU, etc. for those of us who do want to use it for dictating documents?

 

Hi On edge,

You might want to look into IBM ViaVoice.

 

I haven't found any recent reviews, except by Amazon users. But per Amazon users and older (outdated?) reviews IBM ViaVoice is worse than Dragon NaturallySpeaking, except maybe slightly less resource intensive. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

update: I went with Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional. Based on my countless google searches it's pretty much the only serious option out there, other than Windows Vista's speech recognition software (for Vista users).

However, NDS Pro is also expensive (unless you can get it for free), resource intensive, and for best results requires a quiet environment, a high quality microphone and a powerful computer. I'd say this is of questionable value for most people, but it has a lot of potential...

 

Use a good quality headset instead of a mic as I found a cheap mike just doesn't cut it.

 

Headset is definitely the way to go. By mic I meant to include mics on headsets.

Wireless is important too since for me that's half the fun of this voice command stuff. For example, I like to be able to listen to streaming radio while doing other stuff away from the computer, and then mute it by saying 'mute' and control the volume in general with voice commands without having to go back to the computer and stop the other stuff I'm doing.

But high quality wireless headsets, especially the kind that are good for speech recognition, cost at least a hundred bucks, probably more. At least I haven't found any cheap ones, though I did see some wireless headsets on eBay for around $20-30, but they weren't exactly the "good quality" kind (I still bought one).