Hi John, To my mind, Narrator in Windows 8 is a definite improvement compared to Narrator in previous versions of Windows in terms of voice quality and responsiveness, and it also has more functionality in things like the Control Panel and Internet Explorer. I could get by with it in Control Panel, but it really doesn't have enough navigation options in Internet Explorer - for instance, you can only move to headings, tables or links. And although it works in the email client, that client is pretty basic for my needs. When I set up a Windows 8 machine I always put NVDA on it, and change the voice to the Windows 8 one. That gives me the best of both worlds. By the way, I was interested to hear that Windows 8 is claiming to contain a screen reader to rival VoiceOver in quality. Do you have a source for that? It would appear to contradict what Windows 8.1 Help says about Narrator, which is: "Narrator provides basic screen-reading capabilities so you can use Windows when you don't have a more comprehensive screen reader. Narrator isn't designed to read content in all apps." Steve -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Wilson Sent: 06 January 2014 21:56 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Re: Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader Hello ron, Thanks for replying. Yes, I also looked on Blind Cooltech but found nothing relevant. It seems strange to me that, with Win 8 having been announced as Microsoft's OS which is to contain a rival quality screenreader to Apple's screenreader, no one seems to be testing/reviewing it yet. John. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Sears" <r.sears1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 9:10 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader Hello John, sorry I only have Windows 7. I looked on www.blin.cooltech but only found a review using windows. I hope you find what you are looking for. Ron ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Wilson" <j.wilson07@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 7:42 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader Hello Ron, Yes, Ron, I've done that with Google but found nothing of real value/relevance, other than the obvious. I'm thinking more of how the new Narrator works with such as the Win 8.1 email client, the browser, the OS in general and on the Net. Just how good/bad is it. So far I've found nothing other than how to get Narrator working and make changes to its default way of working, which I already knew. I'm looking for something more in-depth and evaluative along the lines of other screenreader evaluations and comparisons. Do you know of any? I'll probably eventually find something but how many hours of searching it might take is anyone's guess. I was hoping that someone on here would have already found such things and could have eliminated the time-consuming searching for me. Thanks. John. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Sears" <r.sears1@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 5:33 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader John there seems to be some if you Google it Ron ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Wilson" <j.wilson07@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 5:16 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader Hello Vince, Thanks for this warning. I'll keep my old machine running to receive the email to avoid this problem of the code. By the way, Are you currently using Win 8.1 with its own screenreader and how do you find it, if so? I've so far not found any up-to-date demos on this screenreader to give me any guidance. Do you know of the whereabouts of any audio or textual demos/reviews of the Win 8.1 screenreader? Thanks. John. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vincent Thacker" <vince@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2014 6:41 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader John, You can update from Windows 8 to 8.1 free of charge. Hardly needs saying, presumably, but when the installation is complete, your PC will start the setup process in safe mode, so no screen reader possible. In my case, and I take it everyone else's, Microsoft insisted on my inserting a code, supposedly for security purposes, which they could do by several means including email. But you won't be able to get to your email unless you have another machine going! So don't snooker yourself. Vince. ======================================== Message Received: Jan 05 2014, 05:01 PM From: "John Wilson" To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: Subject: [access-uk] Re: Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader Hello Ron, Thanks for this. Do you know if upgrading from Version 8.0 to 8.1 is free or has to be paid for, or does anyone else know about this? Thanks. John. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Sears" To: Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2014 4:40 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader John, the gadget detective on BBC Five Live the other night said it is better to get version 8.1 Cheers Ron ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Wilson" To: "Access UK" Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2014 4:26 PM Subject: [access-uk] Can anyone point me to a review/demo of the Windows 8 screenreader Hello All, I'm about to buy a new Windows 8 PC. AS the subject line says, I would like to look at any reasonably up-to-date reviews and demos of Windows 8 and its built-in screenreader. Any pointers would be much appreciated. thanks. 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