Using SoundSentry in Windows 95
What can SoundSentry do?
The SoundSentry feature is for people who can not hear the sounds generated
by the computer. Every time the computer's built in speaker makes a sound,
SoundSentry creates a visual warning on the screen. Since most people do not
use their computer's built in speaker, SoundSentry has limited usefulness for
most users.
SoundSentry Settings
The following options are available with SoundSentry.
Warning for windowed programs
This setting allows you to choose how you want to be warned when a sound is
made while you are running windowed programs. Everything you do on your Windows
95 computer, except when you are running in MS-DOS mode, is a windowed program.
The SoundSentry warning involves flashing a part of the screen. When running
a windowed program, there are three things that might flash: the active caption
bar, the active window, and the desktop. You may choose one of these three, or
you may choose to have no warning at all for windowed programs.
Warning for full screen text programs
This setting allows you to choose how you want to be warned when a sound is
made while you are running full screen text programs. The only time you will be
running full screen text programs on a Windows 95 computer is when you are in
MS-DOS mode.
The SoundSentry warning involves flashing a part of the screen. When running
a full screen text program, there are three things that might flash: the
characters, the border, and the display. You may choose one of these three, or
you may choose to have no warning at all for full screen text programs.
Setting Up SoundSentry
- Bring up the Accessibility Properties
window. The Keyboard option will be on top.
- If the focus (the highlighted or outlined portion of the screen) is not on
the Keyboard label at the top of the screen, press TAB until it is
(this should take nine presses) and then use the right arrow key to bring the
focus over to the Sound label. Or, press CTRL+TAB once, until the Sound tab
comes to the front. At the end of this step, you should see a window like this
where SoundSentry is the top option:
- Press s to bring the focus to the "Use SoundSentry"
checkbox.
- If the "Use SoundSentry" checkbox is not checked, press
s. This turns on SoundSentry.
- To change the settings, press e to bring up the "Settings
for SoundSentry" dialog box shown below:
If someone else has saved changes to your system, the settings may not be at
their default values. It's a good idea to check the settings at this point to
make sure they are set the way you want them.
- Press w to bring the focus to the Warning
for windowed programs option menu. Use the arrow keys to select a setting.
- Press ALT+f or TAB to bring the focus to the
Warning for full screen text programs option menu.
Use the arrow keys to select a setting.
- When all of the settings are the way you want them, press ENTER
to return to the Accessibility Properties window.
- If you want to test your SoundSentry settings without closing the
Accessibility Properties window, either hit ALT+A or hit
TAB four times, until the focus is on the "Apply" button,
and then press ENTER. This allows you to test your SoundSentry
settings and change them if needed without having to reopen all of the windows.
To close the Accessibility Properties window, hit ENTER again.
- If you want to save the settings and close the Accessibility Properties
window at the same time, hit TAB twice, until the focus is on the
"OK" button, and then press ENTER. This will close the
Accessibility Properties window.
- Hit ALT+F+C to close the Control Panel window if it is still
open.
Contact us at infotechaccess@server.rehab.uiuic.edu
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