My screen reader, Window-eyes 8.4, suddenly stopped reading in Firefox or IE after working smoothly over many years and several successive versions on several Windows incarnations.

To be exact, while tab does move around the screen reading links, that's all it reads, links, no ordinary text. The mouse, which is what I use to read the screen doesn't read anything at all. I have absolutely no idea what caused the problem.

Closed and re-opened Window-eyes several times. No change. Rebooted. No change. Can't find anything amiss in Settings. Have searched the manual and the knowledge base at GWMicro, the software manufacturer's web site, with no result. Currently waiting for an e-mail response from GWMicro support. In the meantime, I was advised to post here in hopes somebody might have an idea. Any thoughts at all would be greatly appreciated.

Cat

Since it happens in both IE and Firefox my first thought is it has to be a software issue. My feeling is that you'll end up having to wait for a reply from their support.

Only other thing I can think of trying is uninstalling the program, rebooting, and installing it again. But I'd wait for a reply from support before doing that. I'm not sure how difficult that would be along with serial numbers and all that stuff. Heck, that might be what they recommend after all.

As suggested, best to wait for a response from the program's own support service and try whatever they say. What caused the problem? Do you use a Registry Cleaner? Using one of those can sometimes do it. Also, some recently issued faulty Windows Updates have affected some computers. Microsoft has recommended uninstalling them but not easy unless you are comfortable about working inside the Windows system. Hopefully, Microsoft will soon release updated patches that will overwrite the faulty ones and rectify any faults that may have been incurred.

The worst reports involve computers not working at all but my Windows 8.1 computer suffered a lesser problem due to a faulty Windows update (the Taskbar behaved strangely). The updates might also cause other glitches. Microsoft has mentioned an update that could cause fonts to display incorrectly. This could be relevant to the screen reader problem but again, wait to see what 'Window-eyes' program support says before thinking further.

If their suggestions don't work, using System Restore to return the computer to a time before the problem arose might be the answer. Then check with Windows Update again to reinstall any recommended Windows Updates. The faulty ones aren't there anymore.

Thanks for answering, pyonir and tellywellies.

I have reinstalled Window-eyes, but can't recall rebooting between uninstalling and reinstalling. Worth a try. Actually, I do clean the registry from time to time on the XP machine, but have experienced far less drastic problems with WE on that machine than on the Win7, where I seldom clean the registry. The Windows update issue seems the most likely. I will wait and see what support says, but for now I'm inclined to blame the updates.

Thanks again. I'll let you know what, if anything, I find out.

Cat

I hope you soon get the problem resolved Catreona.

If previous Registry cleaning hasn't upset Window-eyes, then it seems unlikely to be the cause of the current problem. As a general point though, there is the opinion that Registry cleaning shouldn't be done on the grounds that it might cause computer problems and that performance or reliability aren't improved. A much debated point here and there on the Internet.

Regarding the Windows updates, not all computers got them but those set to receive and install Windows updates automatically may have. Some people opt out of automatic Windows updates because they want to see what updates are being installed before allowing them. Also in order to see if any faulty updates are reported by those who have installed them. Hence some computers may not have been updated until after Microsoft pulled the reported troublesome updates from their servers. The ones listed as faulty are:

KB2982791
KB2970228
KB2975719
KB2975331

On the other hand, I have read of people who have one or more of these updates installed and they are not experiencing any problems. For more information on this, put 'faulty windows august 2014 updates fonts' into your favourite search engine.

My mind wandered toward a hardware problem when you said Tabbing works but mouse pointing doesn't. How old is your mouse? Is it a wireless mouse? Could it need a new battery? Have you tried running some mouse diagnostic routines found in 'My Computer'?

You say you have two machines, one running the XP OS and the other running Win7 OS. Is the problem occurring on both machines? Are both machines part of a home wireless network with the -Eyes resident on one machine and shared by the other? Since Microsoft no longer supports the XP OS, could a Windows update have been installed that can't operate on the older machine? (In that case TW's advice of going back to a prior date's condition before the update is a very good one.)

According to Wikipedia, the latest issued revision to Window-Eyes is 8.4 and came out in December 2013. So there shouldn't be any problems based in that software. If you are hearing the links being read then there isn't likely an audio system problem.

Out of curiosity, My Windows 8.1 has a built in Narrator. Is that the same routine as Window-Eyes? As my mouse rolls over areas of the screen it puts voice to what is written in text. That program turned on when I selected poor vision operation in personalized settings. It turned on an automatic magnifier window at the same time. On booting up, both these subroutines turn on and I have to manually turn them off by right click selecting their task bar icon and hitting close. Which makes me wonder if the settings for your use of W-Es may have reverted to a default or toggled to some other hindering option. Have you gone through the personal selections in the program set-up? I read that you have gone through the settings but have you tried toggling each from one condition to another and back again? (that action based in the chance that you are being shown a cached screen shot of the settings). Just looking at the settings might not do anything but a toggle switch back and forth might update such a screen shot and reveal any changes. Please don't condemn me for that tactic. I understand how unlikely it is but it wouldn't cost a dime to check on.

Considering that links are all done in a default font and your machine reads that text, have you tried reading a list of fonts to see if your mouse recognizes one of them and then speaks it to you? This UBB text input software has a pull down fonts menu to try. I would think Windows-Eyes would be font insensitive so any font could be read.

Edit:
Also, you said you reinstalled -Eyes. What type of media is the program on? If it is from a floppy of the WinXP era, there might be corruption in the media. A CD could also have a glitch in it. Can you download and install an 8.4 version? Even there, a faulty download can occur. So, verifying the goodness of your copy of the software might be in order. Try installing it in the machine that isn't troublesome and see if the problem arises there. If so, you need a new copy of the program itself.

There's a lot of info and great suggestions here. I'll need to digest it all and discuss it with my computer guy.

I'll let you know w hat develops. And, thank you all again!

Cat

My apologies for not reporting back sooner. Our land line and Internet were out for about twenty-four hours.

Found and removed two of the bum updates, without noticeable effect. Couldn't do a go-back; the go-back system never has worked properly on that computer. No anomalies found in the mouse settings.

We played with Narrator for a while, but it is appallingly unsophisticated, which makes it very difficult to use. Besides which, it doesn't read what is under the mouse either. So somewhere there must be a disjuct between the screen reading software and the mouse; but darned if I know what or where.

Cat

Is the mouse new? Wireless? If it's wireless maybe it has something to do with that. If you are using wireless, maybe try a wired mouse.

What kind of mouse is it? Make/model?

Tonight while working on another problem, my computer guy and I realized that the reason our attempted go back hadn't worked was that neither of us realized the virus protection and firewall needed to be deactivated. Once we did that, the go back worked and now, Heaven be praised, the mouse works with the browsers again!

I want to thank everyone who took the trouble to consider my problem and offer suggestions. You guys are great!

Cat