How to Use Voice Recognition with Mac OS Tiger

Mac OS tiger has built in voice recognition capabilities that allow users to control their computer with their voice. For some people, this is an excellent way to speed up the use of their computer. You can have instant access to some of Mac's most valuable features by using simple, "speakable" commands. You can even create your own custom voice commands to suit your specific needs. In this quick tutorial, I will teach you how to activate voice recognition on your Mac.

Step #1. Turn on your computer and log in to your user profile.

Step #2. Open Finder and click on the apple icon in the upper left hand part of your screen.

Step #3. From the drop down menu, select "System Preferences."

Step #4. Once you are in System Preferences, double click on the "Speech" application.

Step #5. By default, Mac will use the built in microphone. If you wish to use a different mic, you can specify this.

Step #6. The Esc key will be the default listening key that you need to press when you want to activate speech commands. If you prefer to use a different key, you can also specify this. I find that the Esc key is a good default, because I rarely use that key for anything else.

Step #7. Now you are ready to test the voice recognition. Simply press and hold the Esc key for about 1 - 2 seconds. You will see that it is ready to accept your speech commands. Start off with a simple command like, "Open Finder." If all is well, you should see that Finder opens immediately.

Well, that's it, pretty simple to setup. Like I said, you can create your own speech commands, so don't be afraid to get creative. You can use voice recognition and speech commands to surf the internet, check your email, or play games on your Mac.

I've played around with this feature quite a bit, but still find that I am more comfortable using a mouse and keyboard to operate my computer. I think it all depends on how long you have been using computers. As a writer, I spend the majority of my day with my hands behind a keyboard, typing away diligently.

So, using my voice to open apps, or copy and paste, feels a bit awkward since I already know how to do those things quickly on my keyboard. Other people, however, who have difficulty finding things on a keyboard or remembering "hot keys" seem to like using the speech commands. Either way, voice recognition is a cool and futuristic technology.