Message centers - six message center software packages are reviewed - Software Review - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, Nov, 1997 by Charles H. Gajeway

If SmartCom had e-mail capabilities, it would have earned another half-star. Without them, it's still an excellent choice as long as your e-mail needs aren't critical-especially good for laptop lovers who will appreciate SmartCom's relatively modest appetite for disk space. (Note that an LE version of the program is bundled with Hayes voice-capable modems, making them a good value.)

Total E-Call

WIN **

Despite its best intentions, Total E-Call isn't a modem program at all but a software/hardware package that takes a unique approach to integrating voice and e-mail messaging. Nowhere on the box or in the manual does it say a modem or network is needed to provide access to e-mail services. After fumbling around for over an hour trying to get e-mail to work, it finally dawned on us that the Total E-Call card was just for voice messages. We installed a modem, plugged in our second phone line, and presto--we had e-mail.

Total E-Call's audio quality was easily the best of the bunch, and it was the fastest by far at detecting hangups. Some nifty features include Voice Express, which sends your voice over the Internet as a voice-mail message, and Voice Viewer, which displays and plays WAV files.

The autopolling tool automatically calls one or more phone numbers, plays a recorded phone message each time the call is answered, and records and counts the responses. This is a good feature for anyone who needs routine communications tools along with appointment reminders or scheduling capabilities.

There is no fax capability included in this program at all. If you have a good fax/modem and two phone lines, use Total E-Call to add voice capabilities to your current setup. But if you are setting up an overall system from scratch, spend a few bucks more and buy a voice-capable modem that lets you do everything on just one phone line.

WinFax Pro 8.0

WIN ***

The classic WinFax Pro manages to improve noticeably with each version. Version 8.o adds voice features to fax facilities that have become an industry standard. But Symantec also paid a great deal of attention to improving the usability of its flagship fax product, and those efforts show clearly. WinFax Pro is easier to learn and use than ever, despite offering a whole new category of functionality.

This release smoothes over some of the nasty twists and turns of previous incarnations. It's a complex, richly featured program, but watch out: If you take a wrong turn in a dialog box, you can get lost. If faxing is what you need, however, WinFax is the champ. Such features as automatic updating from the Symantec Web site, a controller that routes voice and fax calls without having to launch the entire program, a 60-day moneyback guarantee, and the ability to simultaneously control two modems are icing on an already attractive cake.

Apart from the time required to transfer this unabashedly huge program to your hard disk, WinFax didn't suffer any installation problems. The installer leads you through a series of tabbed dialog boxes, reducing a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo to a series of fairly clear choices. In addition, Symantec has supplied options for saving to a smaller hard disk, a definite boon to the laptop lovers of the world.