Thank you. Yes, that was exactly the problem. --Marla Original message: From: "Darrell Shandrow" < darrell.shandrow@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Skype and JAWS Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:21:27 -0700 Hi Marla, Check and possibly change the default sound card selected in the Sounds and Audio Devices section of the Control Panel. In Tools > Options in Skype, make sure Skype is not allowed to change your audio settings. ----- Original Message ----- From: Marla Bernbaum To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 5:10 PM Subject: Skype and JAWS A sighted family member installed Skype on our computer. Now, JAWS starts up properly when the computer powers up or when fully rebooted, but if JAWS is turned off while the computer is running, everything freezes when we try to restart JAWS , and the computer must be rebooted to get JAWS back. Insert+windows key+F4 does not help. We have also noticed that other computer sound effects, not related to JAWS, are also now inactivated. Has anyone else experienced this? It is possible that the problem is not related to Skype, but the timing of onset seems to coincide with the Skype installation.