Ana,
while I am very comfortable and familiar with JAWS and Window-eyes, NVDA
is my screen reader of choice. I regularly use the portable version on
computers which don't have NVDA installed and there are absolutely no
problems or difficulties with it. On my thumb drive, I have the
portable version in a folder called NVDA. The name of the executable
file is nvda.exe. To make things a bit easier for me, I have a shortcut
to this file on the root of my thumb drive, which I just call "n"
without the quotes.
This means that, when I want to run NVDA, I can go to the run dialog and
type
e:n
and press enter and the screen reader comes up.
Substitute e for whatever letter is assigned to your thumb drive.
Of course, you can type in the full path and it would work just as well.
As I said, there are no difficulties in using this portable version.
Absolutely no files need to be installed onto the host computer for it
to work and you get almost the exact same functionality that you get
with the installed version, except for being able to run it
automatically at startup, which you normally don't do with portable
software, anyway.
You can even use any of the addons you might be using with the installed
version. It really is amazing.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
On 3/11/2014 3:16 PM, Ana G wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I've never used NVDA or Jaws from a thumb drive. With Jaws, I believe
> you need to install the video intercept on pre-8.0 machines, but I
> think there's no need for this in NVDA.
>
> I'm interested in hearing people's experiences with portable screen
> readers. Do the screen readers work as expected most of the time? Is
> it hit and miss? Are there predictable glitches?
>
> When I teach, I like to connect my laptop to the smart panel in the
> classroom. I usually need sighted help the first time. After that, I
> can do things on my own by memorizing a sequence of key presses.
>
> This semester, however, one of my classrooms has a setup that is
> inaccessible. I need to touch items on a computer screen to start the
> process. After that, I can memorize a series of key presses. For the
> time being, I've got a student helping me, which is nice of him, but
> not an ideal solution for me.
>
> I'm scheduled to teach in the same room next semester. I'm planning to
> request a room change as a reasonable accommodation, but I want to
> have a backup plan in case that isn't possible. (My chair tends to
> make things more complicated than they need to be because she can.)
>
> I'd like to experiment with the thumb drive before I talk to tech
> support because I want to separate how well I can use the thumb drive
> from whether the screen I'm supposed to work with is accessible.
>
> Any tips or suggestions on using screen readers this way?
>
> Ciao
>
>
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David Goldfield,
Founder and Peer Coordinator
Philadelphia Computer Users' Group for the Blind and Visually Impaired
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