In Windows 7, 8.1, or 10, open Control Panel and double-click Speech Recognition. The Speech Recognition window pops up with links to dive into the feature. Click on the first link to "Start ...

This can be done through Cortana, or you can use the speech recognition built directly into Windows 10 and 11 in order to speak to any supported version of Windows.

To activate speech recognition in Windows 10, click or tap the Start Menu button in the lower left-hand corner of the typical desktop and click the Settings icon.

In Windows 10, type “speech” into the search box next to the Start button, and among the results select the Speech Recognition option (not, initially, the Speech Recognition desktop app).

Speech-to-text may be built into Windows, but it’s not set up. Here’s how to get started with speech-to-text and tips for getting the best results.

On the plus side, if you’re able to set up facial recognition, you can use it for more than just signing in to Windows 10.

Yes, of course, you can do that in Windows 10 through Cortana. But you can also talk to Windows 10 and previous versions of Windows using the built-in speech recognition.