
01-10-2008
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Join Date: Jan 2008
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Epson 4490 on Windows Vista x64
1. Hardware-great scans but a little noisy. The scanner is fairly large, so plan on a decent sized space for it. Scanner has a power switch and runs off AC power instead of the power from your USB port. The lid can be removed in order to scan books or large documents. You can scan photographs (4 x (3x5) at one time), negatives, and your run of the mill documents. Four buttons on the front include scan to email, pdf, printer, and disk. Document feeder is optional and expensive.
2. Software-
a)Digital Ice-Cleans up your negatives scans (not photographs). For that you use "Dust Removal". This software is slow but excellent at what it is supposed to do.
b)Twain Driver-works fine with Vista x64, but don't use the CD that came with the scanner-download the driver and utilities instead from the Epson support web site. Do NOT install the XP driver or you WILL have problems.
c)It comes with a utility called Epson Creativity Suite. I had to tweak my software a little bit in order to be able to program the front buttons correctly. First the scanner uses the WIA interface to the operating system. In my case (Vista x64) I noticed that I could change the applications associated with the scanner's front buttons, but could not save the changes, I would get an "event handler" error with a message to check that the scanner was on and connected properly. The fix was to go into SERVICES-PROPERTIES for "Windows Image Aquisition" and change the log on to the "System Account"-otherwise the driver won't have permissions to change the necessary registry settings. The second problem I had with the buttons was that the scan to email button would NOT start up Outlook 2007. The fix-was to edit the file "C:\Program Files (x86)\epson\Creativity Suite\Attach To Email\MailerDB.ini" and change the lines ExePath= and ExeName to point to the directory and EXE file, respectively for the Outlook application. After that the whole suite worked flawlessly.
d)The scanner includes software to perform OCR, as well as scan business cards with are "lite" versions of their originals. They do work. It also includes a "file manager" which I found almost unnecessary. Last, but not least, is Adobe Photoshop Elements ver 2.0. One word-Excellent! (Get yourself the upgrade to the latest version, as they have increased the features quite a bit.
3. Support
a) Online-Don't expect much help beyond the very BASIC. The download sections have the drivers for Vista X64 and MAC OSX oses, as well as the earlier versions of these OSes.
b) Paper Manual-forget it!-The only thing you'll find is the HTML based manual on the CDROM. Once again VERY BASIC information.
c) Telephone-don't expect much help here. You're better off finding it on the NET yourself.
Bottom line-If you have VISTA x64 this scanner gives good bang for the buck but don't expect a lot of help or advice if you run into trouble.
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