# Jaws Issues Persist, Please Help

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 20:11:12

Okay, this one's all my fault, but if anyone has a fix, please let me know. Sick of Jaws 10.0's incompatibility with Windows 7, despite both being what the idiots at DARS furnished me with (Gods forbid they do their research), I decided to be a bit... unscrupulous and torrent an update of Jaws. 12 to be exact. Turns out, it didn't take, Freedom Scientific was smart enough to prevent unauthorized installations, so I had to scrap that idea. Then, Jaws 10.0 would not open at all, rendering me without Jaws altogether. I tried repairing it with the installation disc, no luck. Tried totally uninstalling it, then reinstalling it, no luck. Tried repairing it again, tried another reinstall... the whole laptop crashed. I'm at a loss here guys. A friend said she'd reformat my hard drive back to factory standard and then try a reinstall, but she's worried that doing so and thus removing all the other aspects of the Freedom Scientific software suite will prevent Jaws from working in ways we cannot foresee. Help, please! Is there any fix for this? Will reformatting and reinstalling be okay? Help!!!

## Post 2 by Binary solo (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 20:21:07

I'm not a Jaws specialist but I don't think Jaws 10 is supported by Windows 7. So even if you manage to run it your screen reading might not be very good.

## Post 3 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 20:25:49

That's how the state depart of assistive and rehabilitative services gave it to me: Jaws 10 and Windows 7. Ran okay, pretty glitchy but not terrible up 'til now.

## Post 4 by Binary solo (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 20:40:07

Microsoft is of course still doing updates to w7 so that might have some thing to do with it. You could try redoing a system restore or uninstalling windows updates some time back. But as I said mnot a specialist so I don't know. I have Jaws 14 and that seems to run really well with w7 so you might considder an upgrade.

## Post 5 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 20:58:18

How expensive was Jaws 14?

## Post 6 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 21:13:59

jaws10 is best use for windows XP methinks

## Post 7 by Binary solo (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 21:14:02

Sorry dude live in Iceland so well fare is all the rage and we get it for free so I'm not sure how much you have to pay. On the FS website you can buy Jaws online and I think you get it cheeper if you're buying an upgrade to your licence.

## Post 8 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 21:21:05

maybe you could let your friend reformat your comps to windowsXP instead?
just a suggestion...

## Post 9 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 21:25:01

Okay, I might try letting my friend reformat me to XP, then reinstall 10.
Can someone give me a link to where on the FS I need to go to pay for a license upgrade.

## Post 10 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 21:50:22

Is there some reason why your voc rehab won't get you Jaws 14? That's the first I've heard of them being that far behind the times. Although with them, anything is possible. But yeah, if you can't persuade them to get you an upgrade, you might be better off going back to XP.

## Post 11 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 24-Feb-2013 21:56:05

They won't even so much as answer my phone calls or emails. Three years ago, they gave me a laptop with Windows 7, Jaws 10 (which doesn't run with Windows 7), and a 3 year-old refurbished BrailleNote mPower, and have refused me any contact whenever I bring up a need for updated tech ever since. My Braille display is nigh illegible, my computer isn't working with Jaws, and still they refuse to even acknowledge my need for assistance.

## Post 12 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 1:36:34

Damn. That really sucks. I guess that shouldn't surprise me, considering the state of the government, and how far their funding is stretched.

## Post 13 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 1:41:47

Very true. :( So, the way I see it, I have 2 options:
1. Reformat my hard drive back to factory standard and try reinstalling Jaws. My only concern is that the Freedom Scientific software suite will be removed in the reformat, and I'm afraid that will cause a problem when trying to reinstall Jaws. Is that an issue I should be concerned for?
2. Down-grading from Windows 7 to XP. My concern here is that if it doesn't work and I try to go ahead with the reformat idea outlined above, changing out my OS from Win 7 to Win XP will prevent the laptop from reformatting properly.

## Post 14 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 1:53:55

I wouldn't worry about the Freedom Scientific drivers being gone. Think of it this way: when you bought your computer, were you concerned that it wouldn't be compatible with Jaws? My guess is, no. Think of it as a brand new computer. Reformatting is basically like scrubbing it clean, like it was never used before.

## Post 15 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 2:01:47

Eh, good point. Should I try the switch to XP first or the reformat?

## Post 16 by bea (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 6:47:47

Would it be possible for you to install a demo version of jaws 13 or 14 to go with windows 7 from the freedom scientific web site? Demos aren't as good as the real programs but it can hold you over until you want to buy a later version of jaws past jaws 10.

## Post 17 by starfly (99956) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 8:09:04

Hmm... I would not format the drive and install XP. Here is why: XP has its days set before it gets the axe for windows update. Wants that happens then well you know software is not to far be hind just supporting win7, win8 and leaving XP out of the picture.

## Post 18 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 13:07:43

A demo version is a good idea... except their demos run for 40 minutes. Since I can't come up with $895 (the price of a Jaws upgrade) in 40 minutes, that's not a feasible option unfortunately.

## Post 19 by bea (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 19:05:17

Each time it stops after 40 minutes, you restart your computer. You can keep a demo version forever. That's why the demos are out there for those who can't afford the actual program. Hope that helps.

## Post 20 by forereel (Just posting.) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 21:55:19

Okay here is my opinion.
Jaws 10 does not work with Windows 7. You need the last update for Jaws 12 or 13 and up.
If you go back to XP you'll stop receiving updates in about 6 months for so and many things are not working with XP anymore.
You could try Vista, but again you'll need at least Jaws 11.
Reformating will allow you to start fresh, and you can call Freedom Scientific, give them your serial number and ask for an authorization. This won't help if you keep Windows 7 however.
I don't know where you live and the reason you are being ignored by VOC, but you can ask for a review of your case. Call 311 or 211 in your city, or the city in county or state to learn how to make this happen.

## Post 21 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 22:02:46

or you could use NVDA? its free
http://www.nvda-project.org/

## Post 22 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 22:10:28

I know that its not the best screanreader out there, but its better than nothing. and the best of all, its free.
and you could use it with your windows 7, hell it even works with windows 8 too.

## Post 23 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Monday, 25-Feb-2013 22:26:58

Is it hard to learn?

## Post 24 by forereel (Just posting.) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2013 14:16:19

Just in case
On garage sale someone is offering a license for Jaws for a good price.
http://www.zonebbs.com/boards.php?t=27375

## Post 25 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2013 14:21:39

I saw that, $350. A good price comparatively speaking, but it seems a lot of people here have a lot more money than I do, as that is still well out of my price range, assuming I still intend to buy food next month... which I do. Thanks for the suggestion though.

## Post 26 by rusty81 (Zone BBS is my Life) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2013 22:00:51

NVDA is not really hard to learn, but the voice needs getting use to.

## Post 27 by Viking Metal Warrior (Generic Zoner) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2013 22:10:41

I'll download NVDA tonight and see if it works well enough.

## Post 28 by forereel (Just posting.) on Tuesday, 26-Feb-2013 22:26:26

I know personally several people that use it. Its not Jaws, but works.

## Post 29 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 27-Feb-2013 19:36:11

if you want to use Jaws 10, i'd suggest going back to XP as well.
XP will continue to be updated thru april 2014. if there are programs you need, let us know what they are and maybe we can find free ones.
I use Jaws14 with XP myself.
Are there any program that you have on your laptop that u you use with 7 that you just have to have?
Another option is to use NVDA as others have suggested.

## Post 30 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 27-Feb-2013 19:37:30

Calling FS you should be able to get your jaws auth and serial number and that should let jaws work for you.

## Post 31 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Monday, 04-Mar-2013 1:10:30

There are Eloquence drivers for NVDA that you can use if you really hate the voice that comes with it. Personally, I would just do that, the ESpeak voice tends to grind on my nerves.
As for whether or not it's similar to Jaws, that depends on what you need it for. For your average internet surfing, word processing, instant messaging, and music-listening needs, you'll be ok. You won't feel much of a difference at all. Here's what I would do in your situation, personally: go to the Freedom Scientific website and download a demo of Jaws 14. You can run that for 40 minutes at a time before having to restart your computer. If you run into trouble in an application that NVDA can't handle, switch to the Jaws demo. It's kind of an ass backwards fix, but it's better than nothing, or using Narrator.

## Post 32 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Monday, 04-Mar-2013 1:12:43

Tha'ts an option too.