WinFax Pro

[Carbo]

I hereby confess to huge amounts of ignorance on this subject so, with that in mind, I beg your indulgence. My system is a Gateway Performance 500, P3/500cpu, 384 MB RAM, 46G hard drive, connected to the 'net via cable modem, running W2K. Next to this are two telephone lines. One is my primary phone line, the other is a fax machine. I'm considering installing Symantec's WinFax Pro, thus eliminating the need for the fax machine and additional phone line. But, I haven't the slightest idea, at all, of how a computer handles faxes?? Do I still need the second phone line which the fax machine presently requires? If so, what's the advantage over a good 'ol fax machine?
Do I need a special modem since I'm not using a phone line to connect to the internet? Finally, how easy is a fax program to use, such as WinFax, and how good is the quality of the documents? Thank you.

 

[Rogue]

If you want to fax hard copy pages, you'll still need either the fax machine you've got or a scanner of some kind. If all you're interested in faxing is stuff you would normally print to hard copy and send on a traditional fax machine, then setting up the fax app on your computer would work for you just fine. You'll still have to have a printer in order to acquire hard copy on the faxes you receive this way, but all in all, it should work out fine for you.

 

[RC5Bri]

Do you have some sort of fax modem? I use my 56k modem to send and receive faxes.



<< Do I still need the second phone line which the fax machine presently requires? >>


It depends on where you want to receive faxes. My 2nd line dials to the net and sends/receives faxes. I just use my 1st line for phone calls. But, you could get rid of your 2nd line, connect the modem to the 1st.



<< Finally, how easy is a fax program to use, such as WinFax, and how good is the quality of the documents? >>


I use WinFax Pro, and it is simple to setup and use. The quality of documents are equal to that of regular fax machines. Also, I can use MS Word, and directly &quot;print&quot; to the fax modem. Therefore, I don't need to scan the document.

Hope this helps

 

[Carbo]

To further clarify: I do have a printer and scanner. My modem is a US Robotics 56K Voice modem. If I understand correctly, I can plug my primary phone line into this modem, enabling me to send and receive faxes through my 'puter? If so, and someone is dialing my primary number, how does it determine if the incoming call is a phone call or an incoming fax?
Also, I'm told that Windows 2000 contains a fax program of its own, thus eliminating the need for any third party program. If true, your experiences/opinions with it. Muchas gracias, amigos!

 

[The Stigenator]

I have an HP3100 Series fax/printer/scanner but I also have a modem. When I sent faxes, I have two ways, one send straight from word via winfax or send from word straight to the fax printer that would fax away.

While receiving I am normally not home, the computer is off, so the fax machine picks up the faxes. Plus I find the HP3100 is a lot less taxing on my machine compared to winfax. Its speedy and can print and fax at teh same time.