by Steve Bennett
WinFax Pro 10
Rating 98
If your business sends out or receives a lot of traditional paper faxes, PC faxing can make life easier. Symantec has updated its popular WinFax Pro software, and with Version 10 electronic faxes can be composed on the PC and sent via e-mail. Documents can also be received as e-mail and organized as an electronic document. If you don’t yet own a PC faxing program, WinFax Pro 10 is the one to purchase.
Electronic faxes arrive in a self-viewing format so recipients don’t need to have WinFax on their systems. The software also nicely integrates with Microsoft Outlook 98 and 2000, Goldmine 4.0 and 5.0, and Act 4.0 and 2000. This enables users to spend less time and energy creating contact lists and phonebooks to address faxes. They can just pull them in from existing lists.
Another new feature enables fax documents to include photo-quality images, a big improvement over conventional PC faxing. When sending a fax, the software prompts users to choose how the image will be received, with either fast printing or better-quality graphical images.
On the cosmetic side, the software sports a, simpler interface. The new look is more pleasant to use and intuitive to navigate. Those new to PC faxing will appreciate WinFax’s wizards, which guide users through the process of sending a fax. The wizard-based setup also makes installation a breeze. The software automatically detects a modem and makes the right settings.
WinFax also offers a number of amenities that make faxing more professional and productive. Fax messages can be personalized by adding a signature to cover sheets or body pages. A new reporting module keeps detailed documentation about your faxing activity and customized reports for date ranges, recipients, etc.
Perhaps best of all for users (and bad news for junk fax mailers) WinFax Pro 10 works with CallerID and/or Sender ID to recognize different faxes from the same sender. If you mark a fax as junk, WinFax will automatically move any future faxes from the same sender into the wastebasket, where it belongs.
For efficient electronic faxing from the desktop, WinFax is a winner. It takes the grunt work out of the equation. For those that need a more robust network solution, see this month’s Communications column for more information.
