Q. I have Vista Home Premium with 2GB main memory and a 350GB hard drive.

Vista Home Premium does not come with a fax program, which I did not know when I had to replace my XP computer. Where can I get a fax program compatible with Vista Home Premium?

A. And I still have my first CPM computer. With that opinion of Vista, I am guessing that for $160 you are not interested in the Premium-to-Ultimate upgrade, which does include fax software. I have found three different fax software packages that get mostly positive reviews and work with Vista. All of them have free trial downloads. All require that a fax/modem be installed in your computer. They are:

- Snappy Fax, 30-day free trial $29.95;

- Faxmachine, 30-day free trial $39.95;

- FaxTalk FaxCenter Pro 7.5, 15-day free trial $59.95.

Alternately, there are several stand-alone fax machines, including some multifunction machines, that can be purchased for $30-$80.

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(Have your own quandary? E-mail gadgetress@ocregister.com; put "Help Me!" in the subject line and please include your computer's operating system and amount of memory. Read more about this topic and others at ocregister.com/gadgetress/stump.)