Junk faxes. Can these be stopped?

[Peter Jason]

I'm getting several a day and they're using up a lot of paper. Is
there any setting in Windows 7 to filter them out?

Desperate, Peter

 

[Zaidy036]

I'm getting several a day and they're using up a lot of paper. Is
there any setting in Windows 7 to filter them out?

Desperate, Peter

get a free eFax number and then they come attached to an email which you
can look at and delete if junk.

Look here: http://www.efax.com/efax-free

 

[Bob I]

Print them to a file instead of paper.

 

[G. Morgan]

Peter Jason wrote:

I'm getting several a day and they're using up a lot of paper. Is
there any setting in Windows 7 to filter them out?

Desperate, Peter

Repay the favor. Make a 8.5" x 11" image in Paint and color the
background BLACK. In white lettering, tell them to take you off the
list. Use scheduler to dial and send your gift every 5 mins. overnight.
Rinse and repeat.

If you need a no-nonsense solution and are willing to pay, I like these
guys for handling FAX'es
http://www.ringcentral.com/plansandpricing/ringcentralfax.html


--

"I don't like to discriminate against terrorists based on nationality.
If you declare war on the United States and you want to kill us,
We're going to kill you first, period."

October 19, 2011 - Ali Soufan (Colbert Report)

 

[Paul]

I'm getting several a day and they're using up a lot of paper. Is
there any setting in Windows 7 to filter them out?

Desperate, Peter

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Receive-a-fax-with-Windows-Fax-and-Scan

"Tips

* To preview a fax in your inbox, click it.
The fax's first page is displayed in the preview pane.

* To open a fax in your inbox, double-click it."

It sounds to me, like you have options there to preview what
is coming in.

Paul

 

[VanguardLH]

I'm getting several a day and they're using up a lot of paper. Is
there any setting in Windows 7 to filter them out?

Desperate, Peter

Don't receive faxes by facsimile (i.e., sent to your fax machine or fax
modem). Get a free receive-only fax account at eFax; see:

http://www.efax.com/efax-free

Any faxes sent to that phone number will get delivered to you via
e-mail. The fax will be attached. Then using their viewer software
that you have to install (since they use a proprietary TIF format), you
can check if you want to print it or delete it.

If you are using a fax modem (you never bothered to describe your actual
setup) then you must've configured the fax software to automatically
print received faxes. Instead just keep them on the computer (on the
hard drive and listed as received) and look at them. Then decide which
ones you want to print and which ones to delete.

The laws regarding junk faxes are much older than the e-mail spam laws.
If you want to go after the spammer, get a lawyer and track down the
spammer via their caller ID. If they don't supply a CID, I suppose
there are boxes that will check for its absence and block the incoming
call (I haven't bothered to check into those).

http://www.keytlaw.com/faxes/junkfaxlaw.htm
http://www.junkfax.org/fax/basic_info/junk_fax_qa.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_fax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_Fax_Prevention_Act_of_2005

For most outbound faxes, I use an free online fax service (GotFreeFax,
FaxZero). In a few cases where the content is sensitive (credit card
numbers, bank accounts, etc), I send using my own fax machine (a multi-
function printer). For ALL inbound faxes, they arrive via my free eFax
number and get received via e-mail. I don't have to waste the money for
a dedicated phone line just for the fax machine, I don't need to leave
the fax machine powered up all the time, and junk faxes are a non-issue
(I get few and deleting the e-mails with fax attachments is simple), and
I don't waste paper on received faxes whether I want them or not.

 

[Peter Jason]

get a free eFax number and then they come attached to an email which you
can look at and delete if junk.

Look here: http://www.efax.com/efax-free

Thanks, but they want $15.99 per month. I'll wait until my service
provider has a similar offering. They said it's on the way.

 

[VanguardLH]

Thanks, but they want $15.99 per month. I'll wait until my service
provider has a similar offering. They said it's on the way.

Wrong. Visit the link provided. You can too get a FREE account. It's
a *receive-only* account (which is your problem with received junk
faxes). You have to pay if you want to SEND via eFax.

That page has a link to offer (lure) you into a 30-day trial of their
*Plus* account. That lets you send faxes. You only need a free
account to receive faxes through them.

 

[Peter Jason]

Don't receive faxes by facsimile (i.e., sent to your fax machine or fax
modem). Get a free receive-only fax account at eFax; see:

http://www.efax.com/efax-free

Any faxes sent to that phone number will get delivered to you via
e-mail. The fax will be attached. Then using their viewer software
that you have to install (since they use a proprietary TIF format), you
can check if you want to print it or delete it.

If you are using a fax modem (you never bothered to describe your actual
setup) then you must've configured the fax software to automatically
print received faxes. Instead just keep them on the computer (on the
hard drive and listed as received) and look at them. Then decide which
ones you want to print and which ones to delete.

The laws regarding junk faxes are much older than the e-mail spam laws.
If you want to go after the spammer, get a lawyer and track down the
spammer via their caller ID. If they don't supply a CID, I suppose
there are boxes that will check for its absence and block the incoming
call (I haven't bothered to check into those).

http://www.keytlaw.com/faxes/junkfaxlaw.htm
http://www.junkfax.org/fax/basic_info/junk_fax_qa.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_fax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_Fax_Prevention_Act_of_2005

For most outbound faxes, I use an free online fax service (GotFreeFax,
FaxZero). In a few cases where the content is sensitive (credit card
numbers, bank accounts, etc), I send using my own fax machine (a multi-
function printer). For ALL inbound faxes, they arrive via my free eFax
number and get received via e-mail. I don't have to waste the money for
a dedicated phone line just for the fax machine, I don't need to leave
the fax machine powered up all the time, and junk faxes are a non-issue
(I get few and deleting the e-mails with fax attachments is simple), and
I don't waste paper on received faxes whether I want them or not.

I did try all this a few months ago but there are complications when
the computer is turned off and there's therefore a need to receive
faxes thru the old fax machine.

 

[Zaidy036]

Thanks, but they want $15.99 per month. I'll wait until my service
provider has a similar offering. They said it's on the way.

eFax Free can receive 10 free faxes per month BUT not snd any FAXes.
Look here: http://www.efax.com/help/faq#f_BillingCosts
Under general questions "What is the difference ..."

It is Free but you do not have a choice of phone number which will
probably not be in your area code. The FAXes are sent to you attached to
an email.

I have been using it for years and receive 1 advert from them per week.

 

[Char Jackson]

I did try all this a few months ago but there are complications when
the computer is turned off and there's therefore a need to receive
faxes thru the old fax machine.

Can you please explain what the heck you're talking about? When you're
receiving something, such as regular email or fax via email, why do
you need to leave your computer on? The email will be there, waiting
for you, when you come back and turn on the computer.

 

[nomail]

I'm getting several a day and they're using up a lot of paper. Is
there any setting in Windows 7 to filter them out?

Desperate, Peter

I deselected the 'print on receipt' function, and view received
faxes on the screen. Then send the fax to the printer if a hard
copy is required.

What fax program are you using?

Pete

 

[Peter Jason]

Wrong. Visit the link provided. You can too get a FREE account. It's
a *receive-only* account (which is your problem with received junk
faxes). You have to pay if you want to SEND via eFax.

That page has a link to offer (lure) you into a 30-day trial of their
*Plus* account. That lets you send faxes. You only need a free
account to receive faxes through them.

Thanks, I saw all this but I'm still thinking about it.

 

[VanguardLH]

I did try all this a few months ago but there are complications when
the computer is turned off and there's therefore a need to receive
faxes thru the old fax machine.

Whether it's a fax machine or a multi-function printer that does faxing,
how could there be complications when the computer is turned off but the
fax machine is left up? The fax machine is connected to the phone line,
not the computer. Any connection between fax machine and computer is
for an ancilliary function, like permitting use of software utilities to
configure the fax, set its clock (sync it to the computer), and perhaps
relay the received faxes from the fax machine's memory to a fax manager
program on the computer. The fax machine has its own printer to produce
hardcopy of the received fax without anything from the computer. Fax
machines are designed to run independently. They don't rely on a
computer at all. So there's something about your setup that is peculiar
from the normal hardware setup for a fax machine. I know many companies
that have fax machines and there isn't a computer in sight. They sit in
their own cubicle tied to just a phone line and power cord. In fact, a
proper "fax machine" isn't attached to a computer at all. It just sits
there all by itself to pickup the line, do the handshaking and rx/tx of
tones for faxing, and has its own inbuilt printer. You could put the
fax machine into a bare closet wherein you run a telephone line and a
power outlet and nothing more and the fax machine will work all by
itself. You didn't describe your setup other than to say "fax machine"
which means a standalone faxing device (analog fax comm + scanner +
printer).

If you're using an analog data/fax modem then you don't have a "fax
machine". Obviously the computer has to be powered up to then power the
card slot in which the modem is inserted, and software is required to
perform the fax function.

If you're using a multi-function printer (i.e., printer, scanner, fax)
then there is probably an advanced setting to store received documents
in memory. For mine, under advanced fax settings, I could enable the
"Do not print" for Received Documents under the Auto Print settings. My
MFP can also reject calls from specific senders. If the junk fax is
always coming from the same number, enter it in the block list. While
you could probably tap your way through the on-machine menus to do this,
they may provide software that lets you retrieve the current list,
update it, and store it back into the MFP.

Some MFPs (and may some fax machines) have a USB slot. You insert a USB
flash drive and configure the fax machine to save received faxes to the
attached memory (USB drive). That is, the fax machine or MFP may have a
"Direct Print Port". The received faxes get saved a .pdf files on the
USB drive. Insert into your computer to do whatever you want with those
PDF files. So you could save received documents to the fax machine's
memory (and then elect later to print them from there) or to save them
onto a USB drive (and select which ones to print on your computer
sometime later).

Note that my suggestion of using a free eFax machine for receive-only
transmission of faxes (which you receive as attachments to e-mails) was
predicated on no max quota on the number of faxes you could receive.
When I opened my free account several years ago, there was no quota.
Now there appears to be a publicized quota of 10 faxes/month maximum. I
receive so few faxes (only one from gov't boobs that refuse to use
e-mail) per year that I've never come close to this quota. If you're
using a fax machine as a business resource and actually rely on it to
get communications from your customers rather than use e-mail then
something other than a free account at eFax would be needed. Then,
again, if this was for business use then it would be a business expense
to have a paid eFax account not only to up the monthly receive quota but
also permit electronic transmission of faxes (from you via e-mail but as
faxes to the recipient that's still stuck in the dinosaur age). Most
times when asked, I simply deny that I have a fax number to force the
sender to transmit the document via e-mail. In the rare cases where
that doesn't work (they usually spout some legal requirement which is
bogus because faxing is no more secure than e-mail and a printout from a
fax is no more valid than a printout from an e-mail or its attachment),
I do get stuck having to fax out or to fax in. It's so rare that I've
never been bothered with an e-mail alert from eFax warning me that my
monthly quota got consumed for inbound faxes. If this is for business
use then you should be considering the business expense of running a
business-class faxing machine and either dedicate a separate phone line
for faxing or pay for online e-faxing. Again, we don't know your setup.

 

[Peter Jason]

I deselected the 'print on receipt' function, and view received
faxes on the screen. Then send the fax to the printer if a hard
copy is required.

What fax program are you using?

Pete

I have a Samsung CLX6210FX printer/fax/scanner. I want to use the
Windows7 fax that I already use for sending faxes from a file.

 

[Pete Stavrakoglou]

I used to get an unsolicited fax every Saturday morning from a mortgage broker
(whom I had never done business with or even contacted). I requested that they
take me off of their list but I still kept getting the fax. I made a black
image with the text in white asking them to stop faxing me. I did it on three
sheets of paper, taping the sheets together. As the first sheet fed through, I
taped it to the end of the last sheet forming a loop and that fax just kept
going and going and going in an endless loop. I never got another fax from them
again.

I'm getting several a day and they're using up a lot of paper. Is
there any setting in Windows 7 to filter them out?

Desperate, Peter

Repay the favor. Make a 8.5" x 11" image in Paint and color the
background BLACK. In white lettering, tell them to take you off the
list. Use scheduler to dial and send your gift every 5 mins. overnight.
Rinse and repeat.

If you need a no-nonsense solution and are willing to pay, I like these
guys for handling FAX'es
http://www.ringcentral.com/plansandpricing/ringcentralfax.html


--

"I don't like to discriminate against terrorists based on nationality.
If you declare war on the United States and you want to kill us,
We're going to kill you first, period."

October 19, 2011 - Ali Soufan (Colbert Report)

 

[Art Todesco]

I'm getting several a day and they're using up a lot of paper. Is
there any setting in Windows 7 to filter them out?

Desperate, Peter

It looks like you are using a fax modem in a W7 box. If so, don't print
them. When you receive them, look at the fax on the screen, delete the
unwanted, print the good ones.
Also I like G. Morgan's idea (earlier in this thread) of pay back.

 

[VanguardLH]

I used to get an unsolicited fax every Saturday morning from a
mortgage broker (whom I had never done business with or even
contacted). I requested that they take me off of their list but I
still kept getting the fax. I made a black image with the text in
white asking them to stop faxing me. I did it on three sheets of
paper, taping the sheets together. As the first sheet fed through, I
taped it to the end of the last sheet forming a loop and that fax
just kept going and going and going in an endless loop. I never got
another fax from them again.

At that point, I wouldn't bother wasting the time to send a fax myself
and tie up my phone line to send the faxed request. Instead use the
online free fax-send services: FaxZero, GotFreeFax, MyFax (a division of
j2 Global which got acquired by eFax), FaxBurner, and others (including
paid services that have trials but only recommend if you don't have to
first give them a credit card). Some have limitations, like 2 faxes per
day with a max of 2 pages each (MyFax lets you send 10-page documents)
although some include or can option in a cover page to make it 3 pages.
Since they'll send images, you can create that white on black document
that'll consume their ink and waste their paper.

First try the polite approach by asking them (up to 3 times) to remove
you from their junk faxing list (and remember to give them 10 days from
the request to get their list updated and filtered down to whomever is
in charge of their junk faxing). You could even quote content from
several of the anti-junk faxing web sites and the appropriate laws to
remind them that you can take legal action against them and collect on
damages (include a note that you operate a pay-per-received-page service
and the cost is $50 per page with a minimum charge of 2 pages - once
they're informed, you can have your lawyer collect on those charges).
Only if they keep junk faxing you after the reasonable update interval
should you slam them with numerous repeated requests to get removed.

Be nice but wield a ready shotgun loaded with 00 (double-aught) buckshot
and a full-power load. Be nice if they'll be nice. Start shooting if
they choose not to be nice but first afford them the time to run away.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Peter Jason wrote: []

I did try all this a few months ago but there are complications when
the computer is turned off and there's therefore a need to receive
faxes thru the old fax machine.

Whether it's a fax machine or a multi-function printer that does faxing,
how could there be complications when the computer is turned off but the

[another over 70 lines snipped]

I had no trouble understanding what Peter meant: there are times when he
has his computer turned off (yes, some of us do!), but wants to still
see what the faxes are that anyone might send during those hours.

(And his "old fax machine" may not have any storage facilities.)

As for using all these free fax receiving facilities: as I understand
it, these work by giving you a new fax number. (I think it's often a
premium number, thus the person sending pays, which is what funds the
service.) That's no good if the offender has his existing fax number and
Peter wants to keep using that number to receive faxes from other
people/companies who also know it.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I
have
one. -Cato the Elder, statesman, soldier, and writer (234-149 BCE)

 

[nomail]

I have a Samsung CLX6210FX printer/fax/scanner. I want to use the
Windows7 fax that I already use for sending faxes from a file.

The printer is immaterial. If you are using 'windows fax and
scan' there is a check box to tick/untick depending on whether
you want printing by default or not. Go to 'tools > fax settings

more options'.

Is your modem an internal winmodem or a proper external modem? If
the latter you should be able to set the bios to 'wake on lan' so
that if the computer is off and a fax is detected the computer
will turn itself on. Not sure if this works with a winmodem but
it might.

Cheers
Pete