JAWS is being incredibly odd

Category: Geeks r Us

Post 1 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Friday, 26-Feb-2016 23:53:05

Hi guys. JAWS is exhibiting some of the strangest behaviour I've ever seen. (For reference, this is jaws 15 on windows 7). Out of the blue, it has stopped responding when I wake the computer from sleep. It might, if I'm lucky, say a few words at the login screen, but then falls silent for minutes at a time. Sometimes all I can do is reboot, though starting up NVDA seems to wake it up for some reason. Meanwhile, everything else on the computer functions smoothly upon wakeup. Next, it has begun crashing when I open firefox for the first time after waking the computer from sleep mode. I have to kill firefox to get JAWS back, and even then I sometimes have to wait around or restart JAWS altogether. Third, (and unrelated, I think) it has begun behaving oddly in Word. Let us say I begin typing a new paragraph, finish it, and skip two blank lines. JAWS will not acknowledge the blank lines and read both paragraphs on one huge line. Restarting word or JAWS fixes it temporarily, but it comes back often with no apparent pattern. NVDA works just fine, however. Any suggestions? Is it simply time for a reinstall?

Post 2 by forereel (Just posting.) on Saturday, 27-Feb-2016 0:27:12

If NVDA works smoothly all the time, such as if you use it for a couple hours on different applications, yes remove and reinstall Jaws.
Otherwise you have pop up, or some sort of message you aren't being read coming on screen.
If I'm not explaining well, let me know.

Post 3 by bea (I just keep on posting!) on Saturday, 27-Feb-2016 7:44:49

Speaking of odd, I have jaws 17 and have sounds turned off for forms. Still, I get clicking when I move from heading to heading or down through a number of links. Any reason for this? I have windows 7.

Post 4 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Saturday, 27-Feb-2016 8:20:48

Sometimes mine won't open things in the system tray, though I'm not sure whether that's a jaws issue or not.

Post 5 by DevilishAnthony (Just go on and agree with me. You know you want to.) on Saturday, 27-Feb-2016 10:37:21

As far as the system tray, most of the time, I find that this happens when I'm using a program that is maximized. If IE is maxed, for example, finding an icon in the system tray with insert f11 and trying to interact with it just clicks something in IE, or at least brings me back to the IE page that I was on.

Post 6 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Saturday, 27-Feb-2016 13:31:06

Thanks Wayne! I'll remove and reinstall, then investigate a popup of some sort if that doesn't sort it.

Post 7 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Sunday, 28-Feb-2016 9:02:16

In response to post 3:
I think it makes sounds for headings and things because of the smart navigation stuff. Those are unrelated to forms mode.

Post 8 by forereel (Just posting.) on Sunday, 28-Feb-2016 14:17:24

It can, but smart navigation is off by default.

Post 9 by starfly (99956) on Friday, 04-Mar-2016 18:06:12

Here is two odd related issues running JFW 16 with the latest patches, win10 I7 5th Gen 2.4 turbo boost 3.2, 12 GB Ram and 1 TB drive with a 4K screen. Jaws tends to cause my system to freeze fore a second when opening Pages in FireFox or Internet Explore or opening a new document in word. Sometimes when spell checking with jfw17 jaws will crash and restart.

Post 10 by starfly (99956) on Friday, 04-Mar-2016 21:40:32

Oh, now I see random crashes with no explination as well.

Post 11 by hardyboy09 (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Saturday, 05-Mar-2016 0:46:19

The most peculiar behavior I have noticed while running Windows 10 is how long Jaws takes to start. Even with 12 GB of memory, it is not happy. Also, Jaws freezes while In Outlook for no apparent reason. Is it me or is Freedom Scientific becoming sloppy?
A lot of users have completely transitioned to NVDA, and I would, but am apprehensive regarding Microsoft Word support. However, NVDA will run on any system and had great Win 10 support right out of the box.

Post 12 by forereel (Just posting.) on Saturday, 05-Mar-2016 12:07:38

Jaws is programmed that if one of your programs crash, not Jaws, and causes Jaws to crash, it restarts after bit.
I suspect the fault is not Jaws, but your program having some sort of glitch.
To clean this up as best you can, trouble shoot the program first for problems Jaws has problems with.
The best way I find to get Windows 10 working at peak is to install it clean.
This means you'll need to backup your files. This give you a really smooth Windows 10 experience.
Note, this selection will also wipe out all your computers programs the company has installed.
If you like some of them, find the source to reinstall them after.

Post 13 by starfly (99956) on Saturday, 05-Mar-2016 16:18:44

Hi, forereel, so after unloading jaws, updating NVDA and now testing NVDA with Internet explorer and Firefox and loading win word 2013 there is zero lag. Try this with jaws 17 and your going to see some lag. Plese explain why this is happening only to jaws? NVDA, and the 3 mentioned applications fly open and move lightening quick on my system. I find this very odd and will be reporting the behavior to FS.

Post 14 by hardyboy09 (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Saturday, 05-Mar-2016 19:52:54

I agree. Jaws is very slow with Windows 10. Wayne, my installation was from a reimage. I do not intend to start this process over. Sometimes Jaws just freezes in the middle of plain Internet browsing. I agree with Star Fly on this one.

Post 15 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Sunday, 06-Mar-2016 9:10:09

I honestly have to say that I have not been able to replicate any of the lag issues or the crashes on my two windows 10 systems. I don't even have issues starting JAWS in a very timely manner, and I don't have 12 GB of memory. When I use internet explorer, I might get the occasional crash, but they're rare enough to be a non-issue for me. However, I did do what one of the above posters suggested, and was smart enough to do a clean format and installation of windows 10. Yes, I run word 2013 as well, and I use it daily, multiple times in a day, since I often have to check many documents. It sounds like your issues are more computer-related than JAWS-related. Don't forget, systems should be formatted every so often no matter what you use!

Post 16 by forereel (Just posting.) on Sunday, 06-Mar-2016 14:47:05

I also don't have this lag or other behavior.
I have two personal machines I use daily and they both start easy.
I don't use Word 2013, but 2016 and like the poster before me use it daily often for reading and writing things.
Now and again, I'll have a crash on IE, but it isn't Jaws related, but IE. Not even that happens often.
The only thing I can think of as to why NVDA runs smoother and Jaws doesn't is the install of Jaws, or video entercept issues.

Post 17 by BigDogDaddy (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Tuesday, 08-Mar-2016 13:25:28

NO video intercept in Win 10. Just Mirror driver. One thing to consider is what services and/or startup things are starting on a computer. I've setup brand new machines that have so much bloatware that even with 12 and 16gb of ram jaws crawls. Often removing start up apps/services takes good care of this.
As for jaws starting slow in Win 10, jaws no longer starts as a service, but rather as a start up program, so if other things have priority, JFW will start after.

Post 18 by forereel (Just posting.) on Tuesday, 08-Mar-2016 15:33:16

I had forgotten about the removal of the video intercept.
So, I'd go back to my first post.
If Windows 10 is installed clean, and I mean like Microsoft would install it, it runs smoothly.
That has been my experience anyway.

Post 19 by starfly (99956) on Tuesday, 08-Mar-2016 18:40:38

Thhanks fore adding to this board zoners, going to attempt a jaws repair one more time. System reformat is out of the question.

Post 20 by forereel (Just posting.) on Tuesday, 08-Mar-2016 21:41:52

No formatting. Reinstalling Windows is a better choice.
You just need to back up your files.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-upgrade?pm=pse_bing&SEMID=1&WT.srch=1&ocid=OCWIN10_SEM_BNG_MSBranded_INT_en-US_install%20windows%2010&wt.mc_id=OCWIN10_SEM_BNG_MSBranded_INT_en-US_install%20windows%2010
I've never reformatted a computer just to make changes. Only in the most extreme cases and that was once or twice at the most.

Post 21 by starfly (99956) on Tuesday, 08-Mar-2016 22:55:21

Okay, jaws was uninstalled and reinstalled, now this computer and jaws run buttery smooth with both browsers and now word flies open. Just sweet!, glad I got this computer over a mac.

Post 22 by forereel (Just posting.) on Wednesday, 09-Mar-2016 20:45:17

There you go. Now leave it alone.
To much fooling and you mess it up.
Laughing.

Post 23 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 10-Mar-2016 17:58:14

Agree with the last post.