Hi Bob

To your second question: the NVDA+s "beeps speech mode" option, replaces all speech with quiet, high-frequency beeps.

So any time your computer talks, or you try to read the screen, etc., you will get a short burst of beeps.

It is potentially useful when you want to know things are still happening on your computer, without hearing the details.
For example, if you are running an encoding process that prints unhelpful verbose messages to the screen. You want to know when it's finished, but you don't want to be distracted by the messages. Set to beeps speech mode, and you will get mostly unintrusive beeps instead.
When they stop, you know it's time to switch back to speech mode talk.

The progress bar beeps mode is just that: when a true progress bar is in a window, you can have the progress of that progress bar spoken in percentage, or emitted as beeps that get higher in pitch as the progress bar progresses.

And now, after typing that sentence, I feel the need to say: how much progress could a progress bar make, if a progress bar could make progress?

--
Luke

"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I only know what I can do." -James T. Kirk