A.
Windows XP has a fax program included
with it. Open the control Panel, click
on the Printer Icon, choose to view
installed printers and fax. If "Fax" is
listed it is already installed . If it
isn't there, it is not installed.
If
Windows XP came pre-installed on your
computer, and you didn't get a CD
containing Windows XP, the fax services
should have been installed. An original
Windows XP CD will be required to
install the fax program if it isn't
installed.
Go to
Add Remove Programs in the Control
Panel, and click on Add/Remove Windows
Components on the left of the dialog.
Check the box in front of Fax Services.
and click Next. You will now be prompted
to insert the original Windows XP CD. If
you don't have one, then you will
need to borrow one. It doesn't have to
be the one that was used on your
computer. Just about any Windows XP CD
should work.
Once
the installation has been completed, Fax
will show up in the printers section,
and is used just like any other printer.
e.g.: From MS Word, choose to print and
then choose Fax as the printer. The fax
program will open and you can send it.
One
important thing to remember. To send or
receive a fax you will have to use the
computer modem and the telephone line.
You cannot send faxes with broadband
connection, be it cable or DSL.
Now
that all that is said and done, you will
be far ahead if you intend to send or
receive many faxes to just purchase an
inexpensive fax machine. The computer
must be on, and the fax program opened
to receive faxes. This means leaving the
computer on, and the phone line
connected all the time, making it
susceptible to lightning damage. It
doesn't make much sense to expose a
$400+ computer with many important files
on it to any unnecessary danger when a
Fax machine can be had for les than $50.
Q.
Once in awhile I get a error message
that says the program has performed an
illegal operation and will be shut down.
What does this really mean?
This is a generic way of Windows
saying something went wrong with the
program that was running. It could
also be a problem with the operating
system itself. The problem with the
phrase "Illegal Operation" is that
it seems to put the blame on the
user. The fact is, the error was
most likely caused by a bug in the
program, and is certainly not the
user's fault.
Common errors that produce illegal
operation messages are things like
something in the software program
trying to divide by zero, (If you
remember your middle school
mathematics, you will know that
no number is divisible by zero.) It
could be what is called a memory
leaks where the program tries to
address or write to memory in
another program's or the operating
system's memory space.
The most common of this type is when
the software tries to overwrite your
video, BIOS or other memory. If any
of these happen while a program is
running, the execution comes to an
abrupt halt and the program usually
quits. This is in an attempt to
isolate the problem to the specific
software and prevent a total compute
crash.
This problem was much more prevalent
with Windows 95, 98, and especially
irritating with Windows ME, the
worse operating system ever; even
worse that DOS 4.0. (My opinion but
agreed to by many others.)
Thankfully, these errors are all but
eliminated with Windows XP.
If you are still using a computer
running any operating system before
Windows XP, it is probably time for
a new computer. And NO, I wouldn't
wait for until Windows Vista is
released to get one. Right now, you
will probably be able to buy 2 or 3
state-of-the-art computers for what
your old computer cost you 6+ years
ago.
