Windows freezes if I try to access speech

I noticed this problem a few days ago after installng Dragon Pro 16 on my desktop computer that when I opened it the computer froze after a few seconds. Both the mouse and the keyboard were unresponsive so I had to switch the computer off and then on again.

I had seen some problems with Dragon prior to the freezing so tried uninstalling and reinstalling it, and I also tried a repair, but this made no difference.

Thinking this might be a Dragon problem I decided to try Windows Speech Recognition, but part way through the installation process the computer froze.

I have also found that if I go into Settings and try to access the Sound options the computer freezes almost immediately as well. Usually within seconds.

System File Checker and Check Disk do not find any problems with my computer.

It was suggested that it might be a memory problem but removing both memory cards, one at a time, did not solve the problem.

At the moment the only thing that I can think of trying is another clean reinstall, after formatting the C drive.

As I did that recently I would prefer not to do it again. When I did that reinstall I was surprised to see a few shortcut icons on my desktop to programs which I had not reinstalled, and also the Documents and Pictures folders were mapped to my D:\ and F:\ drives respectivley. I had expected to have to remap these folders myself.

If anyone has any suggestions as to how I might solve this problem I will be very grateful. Thanks for reading this.