Windows Vista’s Speech Recognition works great once it’s been [1] trained, but what if you have more than one user using the computer?

You see, Speech Recognition software learns a person’s voice. It saves what it’s learned in a profile. So let’s say I use speech recognition and my wife uses it also on the same computer with the same profile. A woman’s voice will confuse it because it’s leaned my voice and vice versa.

This guide shows you how to create and manage profiles for each user so that speech recognition works at its best.

Create a Speech Recognition Profile

1. Plug in your microphone.
2. Open the Control Panel and make sure it’s in Classic view by clicking Classic view in the left sidebar and then open Speech Recognition Options.
3. Click Advanced speech options in the left sidebar of Speech Recognition Options.
4. Click New.

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5. Give the new profile a name and then click OK.

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6. Tell it the type of microphone you’ll be using for this profile and then click Next.

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7. Position your microphone properly and then click Next.

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8. Adjust the microphone’s volume and then click Next.

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9. Set up is complete. Click Finished.

Train your new profile

It’s a good idea to train your new profile right now. Make sure the new profile is highlighted in the Profiles box and then click Train Profile.

Switching Between Profiles

I haven’t found an easy and quick way to switch between profiles yet. If anyone knows how, please let me know. I’ll post it here with a shout out to whoever shows me how.

Here’s the long hard way to switch profiles in Windows Vista’s Speech Recognition:

1. Open the Control Panel in classic view.
2. Open Speech Recognition Options.
3. Click Advanced speech options in the left column.
4. Check off the profile you want to use and then click OK.