I have expended my rage at the Windows 7 native fax software in
another thread and hope to keep it contained there. I am ready to
move on.
Can anyone share their anecdotes on non-internet fax software for
Windows 7? Conventional web search is made much more protracted by
the fact that Windows 7 already has a fax & scan app, and by the
prevalence of internet fax.
Thanks.
There are times when you want to send something confidential/private and don't want to send it in the clear with email. So I think fax is here to stay.
Do you have a fax/phone card or adaptor? It should have come with software. Up to about six years ago (or so), PCs came with a phone modem along with an Ethernet port. My old Sony Viao has both. If you want non-internet fax capabilities, you need a phone line and phone/fax PCI card or adaptor.
Here's a couple of examples:
USRobotics USR5638 - fax / modem - USR5638 - Phone & Fax Modems - CDW.com
StarTech.com External V.92 56K USB Fax Modem ? USB Dial up Data Modem - USB56KEM3 - Phone & Fax Modems - CDW.com
I bought a USB fax modem. I thought the disc (smaller than a normal CD) had only drivers. The instructions did not mention any software, but I shall take a look upon returning from my holiday season visits. Thanks!
Nope. Most doctors' offices still rely on FAX, citing lack of privacy for the reason. They have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century (such as the Federal mandate in the U.S. requiring medical records to be digitized and standardized). The alleged privacy concerns for email are easily alleviated with encryption. Besides, FAX isn't all that private.
I agree that in theory, privacy can be addressed using encryption. However, most businesses are not set up to decrypt. From the customer or end-user standpoint, therefore, it isn't an option.
What did you mean by the fact that fax is not that private? Do you mean that phone lines can be tapped? I would have to agree, but someone has to tap the line. I don't know for sure, but I imagine that this would require tapping at the source/destination ends or by compromising the infrastructure operator in order to access the signal. In comparison, I imagine that email sent in the clear requires access to any of the servers that the email passes through. If this involves more than one organizational entity, then there are many opportunities for the information to be run through a compromised server. Furthermore, in contrast to email, voice is "circuit switched", which is roughly analogous to real-time streaming. My gut tells me that this offers fewer opportunities for copies of the info to be stored longer for buffering purposes. Since I'm not familiar with the current operating models, I'm not sure how accurate this is presently.
For fax, there is also the danger that someone other than the recipient sees (and/or takes) an incoming document.
Phone lines can be tapped but the greatest danger comes from unauthorized personnel being able to see a fax after it is printed. Usually, anyone can walk by a fax machine and just pickup the printout. Also, commercial fax machines, such as ones at copy centers, store data from transmissions and receptions, same as copy machines do.
Software has been available for quite sometime now for encrypting data sent by email. One of my medical care providers have such a system in place now for communicating patients via the internet. Emails are used to notify patients that they have a message at the website. The correct level of encryption cannot be broken by anyone, with the unlikely exception of the NSA (and they are able to monitor phone transmissions, including faxes).
Oh, well, I just presumed that the NSA could get at your communications regardless of whether it is fax or encrypted email.
I know that file encryption as been in place for decades, but pushbutton encryption for users without researching the various methods and experimenting with different tools or email clients, especially outside of the corporate and/or Microsoft environments? That I don't have a clear picture of. I'm not just referring to encrypting the last mile to the home.
But I do know one thing. If ready means exist for end users to communicate by encrypted email with businesses (end to end), then it really requires that the business be set up for this. It is not a unilateral choice on the side of the end user. And most businesses, especially small or individual businesses, are not set up for this.
As I said in my last message, I recognize the risk of faxes being seen or taken by those other than the intended recipient. However, in a typical office that deals a lot with private communications, such as HR, compensation, claims, doctors, etc., the staff are educated on the nature of private emails and my *assumption* is that they won't be absconding with the odd fax to sell the information on the black market. The thing with unencrypted email in the clear is that (again, I assume) the info can be captured in mass and it is in a readily mine-abe form at multiple points along the transmission. At least, that would be my concern. Whether that's really how things work...maybe an IT security pro can confirm/dispel or elaborate on this imagined picture of how info is stolen and exploited.
On Sunday, December 22, I wrote:
> I have expended my rage at the Windows 7 native fax software in
> another thread and hope to keep it contained there. I am ready to
> move on.
>
> Can anyone share their anecdotes on non-internet fax software for
> Windows 7? Conventional web search is made much more protracted by
> the fact that Windows 7 already has a fax & scan app, and by the
> prevalence of internet fax.
What I have found to work are Snappy Fax and EssentialFax. I had to decrease the baud rate to 48kbps for EssentialFax before faxes could be received.
Unfortunately, neither of these apps include the fax details along the top and/or bottom edge of each page, as one might see in a conventional fax. I guess this was just a convention adopted by traditional fax machines.
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