Powershell script to kill and restart Dragon + Voice Computer

#1

For reasons still unknown, Dragon regularly crashes on my computer. It does not crash “cleanly,” requiring me to use control + alt + delete and kill running processes in the task manager, including VC.

This is annoying and requires far too many keystrokes, so I’ve created a Powershell script to kill and restart both programs.

$processes = Get-Process

Foreach ($process in $processes) {
    if ( $process.Name -eq "natspeak" ) {
        Stop-Process -Name $process.Name
    }
}

Foreach ($process in $processes) {
    if ( $process.Name -eq "VP" ) {
        Stop-Process -Name $process.Name
    }
}

Start-Sleep -Seconds 5  

& "C:\Program Files (x86)\VoiceTeach\VoiceComputer\scripts\VoiceComputer.exe"

I place this in a folder on my data drive, and then I point a shortcut to it like this:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "W:\datafiles.k\powershell scripts\killVCandDragon.ps1"
#2

Ben,

Both SP 7 Standard, and SP 7 PRO offer a simple method to instantly close or restart Dragon® and VoiceComputer (SP 7 PRO allows additional closing/restarting of KnowBrainer and SpeechStart+ as well). You can do this either via voice commands or Hotkeys (in SP 7 PRO you can use your own Hotkeys).

You can choose to close all these programs in one go, or you can close/restart them individually.

Dragon & VC Restart

#3

Thanks for the info. Your software looks great, however, I already have a very complex stack, teetering on the edge of usability. My problems are that a) Dragon crashes often, and b) It is way too slow and crappy.