Office XP speech tool +USB microphone --> system stalls

[R. Fateman]

I "successfully" installed and trained a USB microphone
from Sony on Windows XP. Then I started up Word and
clicked on tools/speech. It then insisted on running
a session to adjust the microphone volume. But this
is apparently impossible with USB microphone. The window
to adjust volume cannot be next'd or cancelled. Only
alternative is to kill process or reboot. A FAQ suggested
downloading a DirectX patch. This did not fix the problem
but now has another symptom. Settings -> Control Panel does
not work (just shows Hourglass). Rebooting does not help.
Logging in as another user DOES allow access to control
panel.
Any suggestions?