Matter of fax

Entrepreneur, Oct, 1998 by Cassandra Cavanah

Navigating HotFax's cover sheets was less cumbersome than with WinFax. There were plenty to choose from; however, their design and style lacked a certain sophistication.

Adding records to HotFax's address book was simple, but this program lacks the more extensive support of address book programs that WinFax features. Importing is possible, but you can only import generic XBASE files, which may require some fumbling to convert your address book files to XBASE.

This program can also act as a host, letting users dial into your PC to access files or faxes. And if your modem supports voice features, HotFax will launch its Command Console for dialing and receiving voice calls. Like WinFax's TalkWorks, MessageCenter gives you a way of managing voice calls on your PC.

CAN WE TALK?

Communicate! Pro dubs itself "the ultimate communication solution." This program is designed for people who want all their communication needs serviced by a single source. Communicate! Pro's interface is a large graphic that looks like a telephone/answering machine; you access functions with the click of a button.

Although the other programs offer capabilities other than faxing, Communicate! Pro is the only one that has taken the spotlight off faxing and moved the focus to other communication functions, including substantial support of e-mail and Internet browsing. For the purpose of this column, we focused on the fax capabilities.

From Communicate! Pro's interface, I clicked on the "send quick fax" button and was faced with an extremely detailed screen that let me input a phone number and add it to my phone book; it then showed me the cover page in full-screen mode (something I didn't ask to see). Hitting the "send" button gave me a message indicating the success of my activities, but my modem failed to dial out. In trying to ascertain the problem, I checked out the fax log and couldn't even locate a record of the fax.

I found Communicate! Pro too feature-intensive, so much so that I couldn't dig beneath its layers to easily perform the functions I required. I wouldn't turn to Communicate! Pro if faxing was my main concern.

THE WRAP-UP

If you're not taking advantage of your PC's fax modem for sending and receiving faxes, you're missing out.

For general faxing, I'd recommend HotFax over WinFax due to ease-of-use factors. However, WinFax is a great choice for Microsoft Outlook or Exchange users. Communicate! Pro is more appropriate for power users who are willing to take the time to learn the program's extensive features.

RELATED ARTICLE: NEW AND NOTABLE SOFTWARE

* Intuit's Quicken Home & Business 99: There are plenty of enhancements in the newest version of Quicken Home & Business, including a new Accounts Payable feature and a new Statements feature for keeping track of customer invoices. Intuit has also added more ways to analyze and improve your financial situation with a new Financial Activity Center and what-if scenarios. There's also a new QuickEntry feature that lets you input transactions faster than ever. Quicken Home & Business 99 retails for $89.95. Check out www.intuit.com/quicken or call (800) 4-INTUIT.