Any suggestions for a text-to-speech/screen reader software?

Do you know of a software program that will pronounce words for you either free or purchase? I know there are web sites I can go to but I'm not always online in fact, I'm off more than on but my computer is on and I just wanted a program that would do this for me. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks for your time!

If you're running windows XP you can just use windows narrator, i've never tried personally, but it is built right into windows so you won't have to install.
Just press and hold the windows key and press "U".

So I can just type in a word and it will pronounce it for me? I've never used it either so I'm rather green about it. I am using Windows XP by the way. Thanks for your suggestion.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. I found exactly what I want. It is a free program, WordWeb, and it works great! It gives the definition, synonyms, and pronounces the word. It has good reviews and I can see why. Thanks again for your time!

That sounds good, I haven't tried wordweb but I'll do that.

There are various "talkers" for visually impaired people...
One is "Thunder"...find it at screenreader.net...
I expect if you google for "screen reader" you will find others...