faxing with windows vista ultimate and winfax

[Guest]

I have vista ultimate but the most important software I use, winfax 10 pro,
does not work with vista. I have reinstalled XP. Can someone please help me
to find fax software equal to winfax, which runs on an ISDN modem???
I’ve searched the web but I can’t find anything. (don’t tell me about
Microsoft fax because this is the most worthless piece of fax software I have
ever seen)

 

[Andrew Rinaldi]

I have vista ultimate but the most important software I use, winfax 10 pro,
does not work with vista. I have reinstalled XP. Can someone please help me
to find fax software equal to winfax, which runs on an ISDN modem???
I've searched the web but I can't find anything. (don't tell me about
Microsoft fax because this is the most worthless piece of fax software I have
ever seen)

Hi,

We have spent a lot of time resolving issues with Microsoft fax. Here
is a report which documents some of the test results using our IQ
Express fax board;

http://www.mainpine.com/downloads/Microsoft Fax Services Lab Report_final_.pdf

WinFax development has ceased and so a Vista version is unlikely. If
Microsoft fax does not have the features that you require then we
publish a list of software that is compatible with our fax boards;

http://www.mainpine.com/software.html

We would be very happy to discuss your requirements in more depth;

+1 503 822 9944

Regards

ANDREW RINALDI
Mainpine Developer Support
USA +1 503 822 9944 | UK +44 8458 909438
(e-mail address removed) | www.mainpine.com

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

This is precisely what has been said about MS FAX for the longest time. MS
Fax is ok for the occasional fax, and is a basic service. If you want more,
try Snappy Fax..

http://www.snappysoftware.com/

 

[Andrew Rinaldi]

This is precisely what has been said about MS FAX for the longest time. MS

Fax is ok for the occasional fax, and is a basic service. >

Hi Mike,

Like many people we gave up on MS Fax and have historically
discouraged our customers from using it on our hardware. Indeed,
after almost five years of effort we eventually tired of trying to
work with Microsoft to resolve the problems in their T.30
implementation.... and it wasn't until our latest generation of
hardware that we had the additional processing capacity required on
our board to fix these issues in firmware.

We have tested MS Fax (XP, Vista, SBS, 2008) on our hardware with
hundreds of fax machines and I'm not aware of any incompatibility
issues. MS Fax does have some nice features including broadcasting
and it might be worth reconsidering this as a solution in future if it
meets your requirements. If not, then we do support all of the major
third party fax applications.

Regards

ANDREW RINALDI
Mainpine Developer Support
USA +1 503 822 9944 | UK +44 8458 909438
(e-mail address removed) | www.mainpine.com

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Interesting thread. The inability of MS Fax products to work with many
common modems is legendary and is what has relegated it to a role as a minor
utility for the sending of an occasional fax by an end user lucky enough to
have a compatible modem. With Vista, Microsoft has now changed the landscape
by pulling its fax utility from those very users and making it available
only to business and enterprise users, who obviously need much more reliable
and robust fax functions.

Did your tests reveal any improvement with Vista's iteration of MS Fax over
previous versions, or are any such improvements merely the result of the
code you've been able to bake into your firmware? Should business and
enterprise users keep looking for other options than MS Fax? The ability to
integrate with Outlook as a database remains a frequent request from users.
In theory, Vista's WFS should have a leg up on that ability since Outlook is
"in house" for its developers.

 

[Andrew Rinaldi]

Apologies for the delayed response Russ, I missed your post somehow.

Did your tests reveal any improvement with Vista's iteration of MS Fax over
previous versions, or are any such improvements merely the result of the
code you've been able to bake into your firmware? Should business and
enterprise users keep looking for other options than MS Fax? The ability to
integrate with Outlook as a database remains a frequent request from users.
In theory, Vista's WFS should have a leg up on that ability since Outlook is
"in house" for its developers.

In our testing of fax service Class 1 on Vista we did not detect any
improvements or bug fixes in regards to the underlying fax protocol.
We work around the Microsoft issues by using our fax service Class 2.0
interface which moves all of the fax protocol work onto our board, and
allows us to have a 'Microsoft Mode' which actively detects and
compensates for a number of bugs in their T.30 driver.

We have seen extremely good results from the Microsoft fax solutions
when testing on XP, Vista, SBS, and 2008. We have clients who are
deploying this today, and for the first time ever we have confidence
that it can provide a solid solution for business. Therefore, the
choice on whether to use a third party fax software solution can be
made on the feature set (the Microsoft Fax solutions are quite basic)
and not just because that's the only way to get a working solution.
Many of our software partners do provide advanced features such as
routing, V.34, JBIG, color, hi-res, and dynamic port control (the
ability to monitor the health of a port and reset it under software
control if required) which may be important to the end user.

My advice is to call our support manager, Derrek Sypert in the US
office. He can help you decide whether Microsoft Fax or a third party
fax solution has the right mix of features for the end user. Derrek's
team support something like thirty different fax applications from our
partners - companies like GFI, Equisys, Alt-N, FaxBack, and Data Tech
- and he is well placed to give you an honest opinion. You may also
like to know that we produce an 'ISV Test Report' for most of our
partners fax software, this is very similar to the Microsoft document
(see URL above), and can be obtained from the software vendor directly
or possibly from Mainpine (this may require an NDA from the software
vendor).

Regards

ANDREW RINALDI
Mainpine Developer Support
USA +1 503 822 9944 | UK +44 8458 909438
(e-mail address removed) | www.mainpine.com

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Thanks. That's what I thought. Useful information for anyone considering
deploying WFS in a business environment.

 

[Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I]]

An interesting comment in as much as history has shown that WinFax versions
later than 9.x have all had significant problems with Windows XP (I have a
folder full of threads I've collected on WinFax issues since the release of
WinFax 10 and its usage on XP). Installing WinFax throughly trashes the
native XP Fax components. Symantec offers no support for the product.
Last, but not least, these products DO work under Vista:

Snappy Fax
http://www.snappysoftware.com/
RKSFax
http://www.rkssoftware.com/rksfax/overview.html
VentaFax
http://www.ventafax.com/
FaxTalk FaxCenter Pro 7.5
http://www.faxtalk.com/products/ftfcp/index.htm

I've seen reports that the free version of BVRP works with Vista also:

http://www.usr.com/bvrp/bvrp.asp
BVRP PhoneTools

Since the above comes bundled with new USR modems, I don't know if it will
work with non-USR modems. You can also send Faxes via your Internet
connection provided you are willing to pay for an Internet E-Faxing service:

http://www.slipstick.com/addins/services/fax.htm#internetfax
Personal Fax Services - Internet Fax
http://www.savetz.com/fax/
FAQ: How can I send a fax from the Internet?

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- (e-mail address removed)
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
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