Faxing from your PC

You can configure your PC to work as a fax machine. What you need is a fax modem, a telephone line and software, and Windows 2000 and XP have built-in fax support so you can forget that software part.

In Windows 2000 Pro and Windows XP
When you attach any fax modem to a Win 2000 machine, it automatically detects the device during startup and installs fax services and fax printing. If that doesnt happen, then you can add the fax components from Add/Remove Programs. You might be needing the Windows XP installation CD for that. To install the fax services in Windows XP, click on Start > Settings > Control Panel, run Add/Remove Programs and select the Add/Remove Windows Components tab. From here, find and tick the Fax services option to install it.

After installation, youll find a fax printer icon in your Printers folder. You can access the same from Control Panel or from Start Menu > Printers and Faxes. You can see the fax components from Start > Programs > Accessories > Communication. To send a fax, open the document you want to fax and fire up the command to print the document. This will start a wizard that will ask you for your fax details, after which it will automatically connect and send your fax to the desired destination.

In Windows XP, you need to manually add fax services. In Windows XP, you can also send and receive faxes directly from the Fax console. The Fax console can also be opened from Start > All Programs > Accessories > Communication > Fax > Fax Console.

Receiving Faxes

After you've installed and configured the fax services, receiving faxes is easy.

When you configured the Fax service, you specified how you wanted the faxes answered and where they should be deposited. By default, the Fax Monitor opens automatically when the modem detects an incoming fax.

To view an incoming fax, go to the Fax Console, and click Inbox. Double-click an entry to see the fax in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. Faxes are image files in the TIFF format, so they can't be edited as a text file can be. But you can view, rotate, and perform basic tasks with your fax document without opening an image-editing program. To print a fax, right-click it, and click Print. To send a fax as an e-mail attachment, right-click it, point to Send To, and then click Mail Recipient.