WinFax
Pro 10.0
"A
Full-Featured Fax Solution"
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Type
of Product |
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Symantec's
WinFax Pro 10.0, the newest upgrade of their software for sending, receiving,
and managing faxes on a Windows PC, features an updated interface, the
ability to send faxes through e-mail, integration with address books of
popular contact managers and databases, support for drag-and-drop faxing,
and more. Letting WinFax Pro 10.0 provide you with complete fax capabilities
within a PC environment increases your productivity while controlling
your costs. Confidential and time-sensitive fax documents are processed
in a secure and timely manner. You can easily fax documents from your
computer to any fax number in the world, anytime. Received faxes can be
viewed on the screen, annotated, forwarded, manipulated just as a graphic
file, or printed from any application. Price: $119.95; owners of any version
of WinFax Pro products may upgrade for $69.95 after $50 mail-in rebate.
See Symantec's Web site for additional software programs: http://www.symantec.com. |
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User Level |
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Beginning, Intermediate,
and Advanced PC users. WinFax Pro 10.0, with its intuitive interface,
easy-to-use features, and tools such as Calling Card wizard, Cover Page
Design wizard, Phonebook wizard, is perfect for neophytes to fax software.
Its robust advanced features and thoroughness of fax options make it appropriate
for Intermediate and Advanced users, also. |
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Features |
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The features of WinFax Pro
10.0 are:
Photo-like
quality outgoing faxes for crisp imaging of photographs or clip art
(New);
Signature
button to easily add a signature to faxes (New);
Send
clean, clear laser-quality faxes and include a custom cover sheet;
Build
a fax from multiple document sources, including your scanner;
E-mail
integration to send or forward faxes in a self-viewing format (New);
Use
your existing phonebooks from: ACT!, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft
Outlook Express, GoldMine, Microsoft Access, Lotus Organizer, dBase,
and more (New);
Drag-and-drop
a document to the desktop icon for easy faxing (New);
Ability
to handle multiple, split, or overlaid area codes (New);
Enhanced
user interface lets you find info at a glance and navigate with ease
(New);
Ability
to store faxes in any Windows folder (New);
"Junk"
fax management to automatically discard unwanted faxes (New);
Reporting
module that generates detailed, printable reports on sent and received
faxes based on date range and/or recipient (New);
Windows
2000 support (New);
Send
and receive faxes in the background with up to two modems;
Stay
in touch on the road with remote fax retrieval, credit card dialing
and auto-forwarding via fax or e-mail;
Network
fax sharing for workgroups without buying additional modems or phone
lines;
Internet
and Broadcast fax saves long distance charges and only takes an instant
to get information to multiple destinations (Requires a fee-based
service offered by Concord Technologies, Inc.);
With
Universal Inbox, retrieve fax, voice, and e-mail messages (Requires
a fee-based service offered by Concord Technologies, Inc.).
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Review |
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Installation: The
installation is quick and easy. If you are upgrading from an earlier
version of WinFax, you don't have to uninstall your previous version
because the Setup program automatically detects and upgrades the program.
In addition, when you upgrade by installing over a previous version,
WinFax retains your data and customizations (your faxes, logs, phonebooks,
modem settings, dialing settings, user settings, calling card information,
attachments, cover pages, etc.).
New and Enhanced Features:
Below is a further look at the new and enhanced features in WinFax Pro
10.0. For a general overview of the product, please see our previous
review of WinFax Pro 9.0.
- Send
fax or forward a fax via e-mail--You
can send a fax to any e-mail address in a self-viewing
format (viewable on any PC). Recipients do not need WinFax Pro, special
viewers, or even a fax machine to receive faxes. Your formatting is
intact and recipients can view documents, without worrying about application
compatibility. (See the image to the right for a view of e-mail dialog
box.)
- Enhanced
image quality of outgoing faxes--WinFax
Pro's new photo-quality print engine automatically
generates excellent fax images from documents that contain photographs
or clip art images. Instead of mailing out photos, company literature
and/or brochures, you can fax them. For textual documents, you can
use the standard printer driver rather than the photo-quality print
engine. (See the image to the left for a view of printer dialog box
showing photo-quality option.)
- Easily
Add Signature to outgoing faxes--Instead
of wasting time manually printing, signing and feeding the fax machine,
you can use the new Add Signature option. The signature button on
the send screen allows you to quickly stamp your signature on the
cover page, or any other page of your fax. WinFax Pro help materials
guide you through the process of importing or capturing a signature
from a fax.
- Automatically
configure phonebooks--WinFax
Pro 10.0 automatically checks your system for contact applications
that it integrates with. Phonebooks/PIMs that are automatically detected
include: ACT! v4 and ACT! 2000, Outlook 98 and 2000, Outlook Express
98 and 2000, and GoldMine v 4.0 and 5.0.
- GoldMine
and Outlook Express Integration--WinFax
10.0 allows you to directly access GoldMine contacts on the send screen
as a source of fax numbers. It also allows you to directly access
the Outlook Express contact list from the send screen for use.
- Drag
and Drop faxing--You
can easy send a fax by dragging a file to the WinFax Drag and Drop
Depot icon on the desktop. The document is automatically converted
into fax format, and the send screen appears--with your document ready
to be sent. This works well with any document, including spreadsheets
and graphics and is quick as you don't have to launch the entire WinFax
program.
- Enhanced
dialing rules--The
proliferation of split, overlaid and multiple area codes within metropolitan
centers has made automatic dialing extremely complex. WinFax Pro 10.0's
enhanced dialing rules accommodate these situations. Area codes can
be defined as local, long distance, or a mix of the two. When sending
faxes to ambiguous area codes, WinFax Pro will prompt you to select
the correct dialing pattern, and learn from your choices over time.
- Store
faxes outside of WinFax Pro--You
can save faxes in any Windows folder, along with other documents.
You can select individual faxes to save, or select multiple faxes--each
will be saved as a single, multi-page file with a meaningful name.
This helps you keep project data centralized and gives you better
management of project files, contracts, and communications.
- SPAM
or "junk fax" management--New
Junk Fax management features in WinFax Pro 10.0
leverage CallerID and/or CSID to automatically delete faxes from defined
sources. When a junk fax arrives, you just select "Mark as Junk."
The fax will be moved to the wastebasket, and the CallerID and/or
the CSID will be added to the list. Future faxes from that sender
are automatically moved to the wastebasket. (See the image to the
right for a view of junk mail dialog box.)
- Reporting
module--You
can generate flexible, printable reports on your faxing. There is
a wizard that makes it easy to select which faxes you want a report
on (including date ranges and recipients), and also how the information
should be sorted and displayed. This feature is excellent for tracking
fax costs for your own information or billing purposes, keep on top
of your customers, and know who's received your latest price list,
or bill.
- New
Message Manager user interface--The
interface has been enhanced to make managing faxes easier. The bottom
pane can show: 1) details about the selected fax; 2) a preview of
the fax, or 3) thumbnails
of the fax pages. This visual reference makes it easy to find faxes
by simply scrolling through the event list. The updated details view
displays only relevant information, in an easy-to-read format. SideBar
icons let you quickly switch between fax logs, phonebooks, cover pages
and the attachment library. All of these views share a consistent
folder and list approach, so learning WinFax Pro is uncomplicated.
(See the image to the right for a view of Message Manager interface.)
- Live
Advisor--The
LiveAdvisor is a new "personal agent" that checks with Symantec
and delivers messages about product upgrades, updates, and technical
tips, virus and critical service alerts, and product information.
Users may sign up for LiveAdvisor when they register WinFax Pro--or
at any point in the future.
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Personal Comment |
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PC Cafe has used
WinFax Pro almost from our inception. It is easy to use and hassle free,
which we need with everything else we have to attend to. WinFax Pro 10.0
is a worthwhile upgrade with its e-mail abilities, signature options,
photo-quality printing capabilities, and, ability to use phonebooks from
other software. |
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System
Requirements |
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Processor: Pentium
Operating System: Windows 2000, 98, 95 or Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Memory: 32 MB RAM (64 recommended)
Hard Disk Space: 57MB
Video Requirements: VGA video capable of running 257 colors
Modem: Class 1, Class 2 or Class 2.0, CAS-compatible or fax-capable CAPI
2.0 ISDN board
Fax sharing: Network configured with TCP/IP |
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Technical Support |
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Symantec's technical
support has always been excellent. You have the options under the Help
menu and their Web site support. They are also prompt and courteous when
you call. http://www.symantec.com |
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Graphics:
DeMorgan WebSpice 1,000,000 Page Design Edition
Web Page Editor:
Macromedia Dreamweaver 3.0
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