What do you do once you have setup your computer? Before you can truly begin to use it, you may want to download either JAWS or NVDA. Of course you could use Narrator exclusively, but that is not the topic for today. For now, I want to help you get up and running with either JAWS or NVDA.

What Will I Need to Do This?

The great thing about this is that once you have set up Windows 10, you already have everything you need to get this done. You only need Narrator and the Microsoft Edge browser.

Let’s Get Started

If Narrator is not talking, you will need to run it by pressing CONTROL+WINDOWS+ENTER. If starting Narrator for the first time, you may get some messages about scan mode and new keyboard commands. If you encounter these, just press the Space Bar to dismiss them. The next step is to run Edge so that we can navigate to the download areas for Freedom Scientific and/or NvAccess. Start the Edge browser by pressing the WINDOWS key and type the word “Edge”. You do not need to worry about typing capital letters. As you begin to type the word “Edge”, you will probably hear, “Microsoft Edge, Microsoft recommended browser, Press right to switch preview”. Once you hear that, press the ENTER key. You should hear, “Search or enter web address”. If you do not hear that message, press CONTROL+L so that you can type in the website that you want to go to.

Download JAWS

To download the JAWS screen reader, perform the following steps:

1. Type “freedomscientific.com” and press ENTER.
2. Press the TAB key until you hear “Downloads submenu Link” and press Enter.
3. Once you hear “JAWS link”, just press ENTER.
4. Tab to the “Skip to Main content” link and press ENTER.
5. Now tab to the latest version of JAWS and press enter.
6. Press ALT+N to jump to the notification area of Edge.
7. If you want to just run the JAWS setup file as soon as it’s downloaded, press SPACE BAR on “Run”.
8. If you want to save the JAWS setup program, tab once to “Save” and press the SPACE BAR.
9. Once the JAWS setup program begins talking, you can close Narrator with CONTROL+WINDOWS+ENTER and continue using the JAWS setup program.

Download NVDA

To download the NVDA screen reader, perform the following steps:

1. Tab until you get to the “Download” link and press ENTER.
2. Make sure scan mode is on by pressing CAPS LOCK+S OR INSERT+S.
3. Press the letter R until you get to the “Skip donation this time” link and press SPACE BAR. I would encourage you to consider a donation to NV Access at some point, though, as they are constantly improving NVDA, making a difference to computer users who are blind all over the world, and all at no cost.
4. Tab to the email address box and type your email address.
5. Tab to the “Download” button and press ENTER or SPACE BAR.
6. Press ALT+N to jump to the notification area of Edge.
7. If you want to just run the NVDA setup file as soon as it’s downloaded, press Space bar on “Run”.
8. If you want to save the NVDA setup program, tab once to “Save” and press the SPACE BAR.
9. Once the NVDA setup program begins talking, you can close Narrator with CONTROL+WINDOWS+ENTER and continue using the NVDA setup program.

Finish

Setup for the screen reader of your choice should now be done. Please refer back to my walkthrough of getting started with NVDA and the JAWS startup wizard for more helpful articles.

As always, Qapla!