Wouldn't you like to be able to speak to your computer and have it obey your every command? You may recall the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, in which the crew of the Starship Enterprise is transported back to the 20th century. While visiting a scientist's laboratory, Scotty, the ship's chief engineer, takes a computer mouse and begins talking into it as if it were a microphone. When told that he must use the computer's keyboard, he replies, "Keyboard; how quaint."

For most normal computer users, modern technology is still pretty quaint. However, as the science of speech recognition continues to improve, computers are becoming more and more able to obey verbal commands. In fact, while writing this article, I have not been using a keyboard. Instead, I've been speaking into a microphone, and using a program called Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS), which translates my spoken words into text using Microsoft Word.

I'm using the "Preferred" Version 9 of DNS, which requires a fairly powerful computer with which to comfortably do its job. There are also other versions of the program available, suitable for the legal and medical fields. I was going to install DNS on my laptop computer, but it has only half a gigabyte of random-access memory (RAM), and DNS requires at least a full gigabyte (GB). Installing the program on one of my desktop computers, which has 2 GB of RAM, was my best option. The program also requires at least 2.5 GB of hard drive space.

Included with the program is a headset, consisting of a single earphone and a boom microphone. Frequent users of DNS will probably want to purchase a higher-quality headset, as the one included is quite uncomfortable. With some precarious bending and flexing, I was able to open up the headband to a size that did not crush my skull, and adjust the microphone so that it was not touching my lips.

Installation of the program was fairly easy, but might be difficult for some folks. I was bothered by the fact that you are required to disable any antivirus software that might be running. This is a horrible idea for computers that are connected to the Internet and also happen to have a firewall integrated into their antivirus program. In addition, many antivirus programs make it difficult for users to temporarily disable their functions. If you are successful in disabling your antivirus program while installing DNS, I recommend pulling the plug on the Internet; just don't forget to turn your antivirus program back on when you are through.

During installation, I chose not to enable the "Quickstart" function, as I don't like unused programs running in the background. I also chose not to register the program, as program registration is typically a marketing ploy and of no real benefit to the end user.

When DNS was through installing, it wanted to check the Internet for updates. At this point, an error message popped up saying, "The Update Service does not recognize this product. Error 13001. Product not registered with the update service."

Thinking that one might have to register before being allowed to receive updates, I went to the DNS Web site and began the ridiculously slow registration process. After filling out some forms, I was greeted with yet another error message which read, "Microsoft Server Error 80040e31. Timeout expired." I tried the registration process once again, and finally, it worked. Lastly, I was forced to "validate" my account by clicking on a link sent to me in an e-mail. This was also an excruciatingly slow process, as their Web site has a very poor response time. I can only assume that the activation process succeeded, as I received no type of confirmation message.

Dealing with and finding ways around computer errors and program flaws is part of my every-day routine. Most computer users, though, would find the above-mentioned problems to be very frustrating, and the fact that the DNS Web site contains no information about solving these problems could leave many users feeling quite helpless. Registering the program did not fix the update problem; maybe I'll get to that one another day.

Compared to the installation process, using Dragon Naturally Speaking is relatively painless. You set up a user profile, position the microphone, and train the program by reading a series of phrases. The program will also scan your computer for documents that you have written and use them to adapt its functions to your writing style. By memorizing a small set of simple commands, I was able to write this entire article simply by speaking, and only had to touch my mouse and keyboard a few times.

Overall, flaws included, I'm quite impressed with the capabilities of the Dragon Naturally Speaking program. It's great fun to speak and watch words appear on your computers screen, and it seems that, with more training and future improvements, the program could flawlessly obey my every command. Scotty would approve.

Dave Moore has been repairing computers in Norman since 1984, when he borrowed $1,200 to buy a Commodore 64 system. He can be reached at 919-9901 or www.davemoorecomputers.com.