These instructions are for the English version of Microsoft Agent. To download Microsoft Agent for use with other supported languages or if you have happen to have problems with these setup instructions, please visit the Microsoft Agent Home Page.

Microsoft Agent is not an application that you can simply run (like Word or Excel) and have characters do things for you. Applications and Websites must be specifically programmed to utilize Microsoft Agent and provide these capabilities for you.

System requirements

Required:

• Windows® 95, Windows 98, Windows NT® 4.0 (x86), or Windows 2000
• Internet Explorer version 3.02 or later
• A Pentium 100-MHz PC (or faster)
• At least 16 MB of RAM
• At least 1 MB free disk space for the core components
• An additional 2-4 MB for each character you install.
• An additional 32K for each language component (dll).

STEP 1Install Microsoft Agent Core Componentsversion 2.0 (395K)

WINDOWS 2000 Users skip this step. The Microsoft Agent Core Components are already installed on Windows 2000.

Download the above MSAgent.exe setup program and run it to install the core components. You may then delete the setup program.

STEP 2Install the Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice,Text-to-Speech Engine (English version) (1MB).

The Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine provides speech output capabilities for Microsoft Agent so you can hear what the characters are saying through your sound speakers.

Download the above tv_enua.exe setup program and run it to install the TTS Engine. You may then delete the setup program.

If you've already installed this, you should see
Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice American English TTS Engine
in the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs list.

STEP 3 (Optional)

Install the Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine,version 4.0 (6MB)

This step is optional. You can download this later.

The Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine provides speech input capabilities for Microsoft Agent. This allows you to speak to characters through a microphone. However, Microsoft Agent must be specifically programmed to understand and interact with what you are saying. Microsoft Agent does not support dictation.

Download the above actcnc.exe setup program and run it to install the TTS Engine. You may then delete the setup program.

If you've already installed this, you will see
Microsoft Agent Speech Recognition Engine 4.0 (English)
in the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs list.

STEP 4 (Optional) Install the Microsoft Speech Control Panel(840K)

This step is optional. You can download this later.

The Speech Control Panel will add an icon to your Control Panel to enable you to list the compatible speech recognition and text-to-speech engines installed on your system and customize their settings for your use.

STEP 5 Download some Microsoft Agent Characters

There are many Agent characters available and many more are being created. Now that you have Microsoft Agent installed on your computer, you only have to download additional Characters (files with .ACS extensions) as they become available and save them to your
C:\WINDOWS\MSAGENT\CHARS or C:\WINNT\MSAGENT\CHARS folder, depending on your operating system.

Have Fun!!!

Now go and GET PROGRAM FROM LABVIEW SITE "TEXT TO SPEECH AND MSAGENT" Have Fun!!! wonderful world of Microsoft Agent...