If this is all it did, it would be a decent product in its own right, but VueScan is far more powerful. The difference is that VueScan optimizes the scan based upon your settings much better than a typical scanner driver.

This wizard is much like all of the standard printer drivers out there. Once the preview is in place, you choose your crop, and then do a final scan. You choose your task, (such as scanning to a file, or scanning for output directly to a printer) you choose the type of object you are scanning (photo, magazine, newspaper, etc.) you choose the size of the media, the quality of final product (for email, editing, archiving) and then VueScan scans a preview with those settings. FIGURE AĪ basic wizard can get you excellent results (click for larger image) This wizard, shown in Figure A, walks you through the tasks necessary to scan something.

Out of the box, VueScan has a brain-dead simple wizard (also referred to as Guide Me). VueScan will almost always give you better quality, color and output options. I can hear you now saying 'Why would I ever need to use another scanner driver? Wouldn't I be better off using the software from my vendor?' The answer, simply, is no. VueScan currently supports over 400 different scanners, and is available for Windows, Mac and even Linux. Instead of using the drivers that came with your scanner, you use VueScan instead. Hamrick Software's VueScan is one of those programs. Every once in awhile I happen upon a piece of software that I didn't even know I needed, but after using, I can't imagine ever being without it.

Hamrick scanner software