It is possible to enable the answerphone at program startup so that it is running all the time and you do not have to manually set it each time you are going to be unavailable to take calls. Although you can suspend the answerphone for individual calls, as described below, the merits of this setting are very much a matter of personal preference depending on how you use the computer generally. As with setting WTC just to answer the 'phone automatically without sending a message, a positive side to this setup is that you can quickly answer a telephone call while you are working in another program by simply clicking an icon or pressing the Windows shortcut key associated with WintextCom. The downside is that you have to be careful not to leave WintextCom in the foreground (the active application responding to keyboard and mouse input) on your computer when you are not actually working on it but do want to answer calls yourself. If WTC is in the foreground when the telephone starts ringing, it will answer it in a matter of seconds, which may mean that you miss the call. You can increase the length of the period that elapses before WTC answers a call, but that is likely to be unsatisfactory at other times. However, always leave WTC the active application when you want the answerphone to be in operation.

Unless you explicitly set WTC to do so, it will not answer a call when not the active application, even if the answerphone is set. Having it set to intercept a call as soon as it comes into the foreground can be very convenient if it does not cause problems in other circumstances, and if you wish to answer yourself, you can suspend the answerphone for that one call by Pressing the space bar while the progress window is open, before the call gets through.

When the answerphone intercepts a call, the progress window information shows that the answerphone is active and is waiting for connection. If you press the space bar, the information changes to "Call answered". This is the information displayed when you answer a cal manually or WTC intercepts it but the answerphone is not set, and indicates that the call will be connected for you to carry out a conversation with nothing sent over the line at the outset. Pressing space bar in this situation is a toggle command, pressing it again will turn the answerphone back on.

It should be remembered that suspending the answerphone as above applies to the current call only. Once that call has been answered (or connection failed), the answerphone is automatically enabled again. WTC will answer any subsequent calls with the answerphone, which you can suspend again to take yourself if required.

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Having the Answerphone Permanently switched On