Making your new printer the default printer

If you've just bought a new printer and want it to be your "default printer", so it is always used unless you specify otherwise when giving the print command (versus the printer you might be replacing) - it is easy:

·       Go to your Start Menu (easy access is tap the Windows Flag Key)

·       Devices & printers (on most current start menus)

·       When you open your printers, you will see your new printer listed along with your previous printer (s) - The one that is the current default will have a green or black check mark on it

·       Right click on the printer you want as your DEFAULT and when the action menu appears, choose Set as Default Printer

Close the Dialog Box and this new setting will be saved

Note-if you do not see the "Devices & Printers" listed on your Start menu, you are using an older operating system, but that's not a problem, simply open Control Panel, then Printers-which used to be listed in the Hardware & Sound Group on older operating systems)

Remember if you want to choose a different printer than the default at anytime, when you choosing option for your print job, simply change the printer - all printers will be listed in the first option line of the Printer Dialog box, with a drop down access arrow-when you left click on that arrow-you will see the various printers for your computer-just choose the one you want to use.

When you want to delete a printer that you may no longer have or use

·       Go to your Start Menu (easy access is tap the Windows Flag Key)

·       Devices & printers (on most current start menus)

·       When you open your printers, you will see your new printer listed along with your previous printer (s) - The one that is the current default will have a green or black check mark on it

·       Right click on the printer you want to remove and choose DELETE printer - and the driver software and icon for this printer will be deleted

Close the Dialog Box and this new setting will be saved

How to Clear or Unfreeze Your Printer Spool

As referenced in our Blog Posting of Printer Terms on August 3, 2012.

Sometimes when you are printing - there can be an error and nothing will print.  You may or may not see an error message, but when there is an error, documents in the queue (in line) for printing will freeze and nothing will print. You may think that something is wrong with the printer, but the problem is caused by the Print Spooler. The problem can be solved rather easily and removing the jam in the printer will only take a few seconds.

Right-click on "Computer" or "My Computer" and a drop-down menu will appear. Click on "Manage."

Click on "Services and Applications" and then click on "Services" to view all the services on your computer.

Scroll down to "Print Spooler" and right-click on it. A drop-down menu will appear, on which you will click on "Stop" to temporarily halt the service.

Shrink the window and click on "Computer" or "My Computer."

Click on the primary hard drive on the computer, which is normally the "(C:)" drive.

Click on the "Windows" folder.

Click on the "System32" folder.

Click on the "Spool" folder and the "Printers" folder inside it to view the print jobs you want to clear.

Press the "Ctrl" and "A" key simultaneously to select everything and press the "Delete" key to clear the Print Spooler. Close the window.

Restore the "Services" window, right-click on "Print Spooler" and click on "Start" so your printer can schedule print jobs again.

Glossary Of Printer Terms (Part 2 of 2):

This is Part 2 of the blog posting we began on Sunday, July 29^th, 2012.

Printing Media - What the printer prints on, i.e. paper, transparencies, film and CD/DVD surfaces. The media type that a printer can support differs by printer type and model.

MFC Printer - A MultiFunction (MFC)/All-In-One printer can perform a rich variety of task including printing, scanning, copying and even faxing. With an MFC/All-In-One printer, you do not need to invest in separate copiers, scanners or fax machines (unless you have special requirements). In general, an MFC/All-In-One printer makes installation easier and saves valuable office space.

Non-impact Printing  - Non-impact printing allows printing an image without striking the printing media. Both inkjet and laser printers are non-impact printers.

OCR – OCR stands for ”Optical Character Recognition” and is a computerized process that enables us to convert a paper document into a computer file that you can edit or manipulate using a program such as Microsoft Word or Word Perfect..OCR used to be an expensive technology, but today is found on many of the All in One/MCF printer/copiers…  All OCR systems work in conjunction with your printer/scanner so that when we put the document face down on the scanner glass, it takes a picture of the document, but stores the
picture” in the form of a bitmap file/also known as an image file – and the OCR software then examines the patterns of dots in the image file and create a file that contains text that is represented as fonts and ASCII codes (once this is done most OCR system discard/delete the image/bitmap file)

PPM - Pages per minute, used to measure printing speed. A printer’s printing speed varies depending on print quality settings, print media, and page size.

SPOOL/SPOOLING: Basically, spooling is the process of placing data in a temporary working area for another program to process. Today, most of us here this term in reference to document s sent from our computer to our printer – known as print spooling.  This means that documents formatted for printing are stored usually in an area on a disk on our printers and retrieved and printed at the rate determined by that printer..  Printers typically can print only a single document at a time and require seconds or minutes to do so. With spooling, multiple processes can write documents to a print queue without waiting. As soon as a process has written its document to the spool device, the process can perform other tasks, while a separate printing process operates the printer

On a stand-alone computer, spooling is handled by the operating system. On a network computer, documents are sent to a print server, where they are spooled before being sent to the designated printer

(We will address how to clear you printer spooling if it freezes or gets jammed in next weeks blog on August 10th)

Two Sided Printing - A technology allowing printing on both sides of the paper (sometimes referred to as duplex printing).

USB - The USB (Universal Serial Bus) port is a popular I/O interface used for connecting computers and peripherals or other devices – USB connections are the most popular interface today for all printers and most other peripheral devices.

Glossary Of Printer Terms (Part 1 of 2):

ALL-IN-ONE Printer – These are Multi Function (MFC)/All-In-One printers which means they  can perform a variety of task including printing, scanning, copying and faxing, so that we don’t have to purchase individuals pieces of equipment.

Borderless Printing - Borderless printing allows a printer to output photos with no borders. This is extremely helpful for edge-to-edge printing.

Dot Matrix Printer - A dot matrix printer works by striking an ink ribbon to print tiny and closely spaced dots onto paper to form certain characters and simple images and is excellent for invoices, address labels and carbon copy invoices.

DPI - Dots per inch, used to indicate printing resolutions that are measured both horizontally and vertically. For example, a resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi means 4800 dots across and 1200 dots down so that there are 5,760,000 dots per square inch in total.

Duplex Printing - A technology allowing printing on both sides of the paper (sometimes referred to as two-sided printing).

Impact Printing - Impact printing creates images and text by striking the print media/paper. Dot matrix printers adopt impact printing technology.

Inkjet Printer - Inkjet printers spray extremely tiny and precise ink droplets to create characters and graphics. Based on color mixing principles, inkjet printers utilize several ink cartridges containing different colors to produce vivid color images, which is why inkjet printers are often applied in picture-intensive printing.

Laser Printer - A laser printer is also non-impact and uses laser to adhere solid toner (typically black powder) instead of spraying liquid ink onto paper to create images. In a laser printer, the drum (looks like a cylinder), laser unit, toner cartridge and fuser are important components for printing.

LPT/ Parallel Port - LPT, also known as Parallel Port, is a type of archived port used in the past by printers; today almost all printers use USB connections.


Part 2 of this Blog will be posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2012.

Printing Tips – Extend your cartridge life

Printer Cartridges are expensive - so here are a few tips we've discussed in class to help you save money by conserving your ink and toner..

Print in draft mode – Draft Mode is what I typically use in all class handouts – which helps save money by using less ink. To do this you want to change the default printing mode in your printer’s “preferences” – Go to start, printer/faxes, and when you choose your printer – choose “preferences” and then find the option list for printing preferences which vary on every printer. Yours might say: “draft mode” , or “economde or “ink/toner-saving mode”.. Don’t use Grayscale-it uses colored ink.

Use a thin “sans-serif” font – Set your default font, to a clean style such as Arial, Calibri or Comic Sans, versus “serif” fonts, such as Times New Roman, Baskerville, Bookman


Use your color ink sparingly – I firmly believe that almost everything we print works just as well in black & white, vs. color…So be sure to set your default setting for black and white – vs. automatic which will print whatever color is on the page you are printing..


Send photos out – It is much less expensive (and quality is so much better) when you have your photos printed by a retailer and you can upload them from home for one hour or 3 day delivery, to hundreds of retailers such as Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart, Snapfish, Shutterlfy, AAA, AARP, etc…


InkJet or laser – No question for anyone who prints a lot – laser is less expensive in the long run…


Shake That Cartridge – When you think your ink is running low – take the cartridge out and give it a good shake, and do this until you can’t print… Remember most cartridges will warn you the ink is low when they are still 30-35% full, so don’t replace it until you have to!!

What is OCR Software?

Typically when we “scan” something into our computer – whether it is a photo or a document, the end results is a “digital picture” of whatever we scanned. But, OCR software (OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition) allows us to EDIT what we have scanned.

Simply “scan” your document into your computer and the OCR software converts it to an "editable file" that can be edited in most word processing and spreadsheet software programs. What types of documents can you scan? Basically any printed material –such as notes, letters, documents, spreadsheets, magazine or newspaper articles, books etc.

The quality of the OCR conversion process will largely depend on the quality of the scanned image and the clarity of the characters of that image.

Today – many of the printers for the home market, especially “all-in-one” multi function printers and “photosmart” printers include OCR software capabilities included with the software or you can visit the manufacturer’s website and download it for free.

So your current printer maybe OCR ready- not sure? Once again, go to the manufacturer’s website – put in your model # and it will give you the specifics on if the OCR software is available, if so how to download and use the OCR software.

OCR software is a real timesaver so we don't have to retype documents to be able to edit them. OCR software is also available as “freeware” and for purchase if it doesn’t come with your printer…

Printer "Driver" Problems

If the printer works but spews strange characters or it appears as if the PC and printer creates errors, it may be a printer driver problem. When a printer acts up and there is no hardware problem (such as a paper jam) the solution is usually driver-related.

The driver is the “software” that allows the computer and printer to "talk" to each other and work together... Often if a printer has worked previously, but won't work with a newly installed program, it’s a driver problem. To remedy this:

• Re-Download the driver from the printer maker's Web site. Drivers can be found under or with the "support" or “driver download” area of the manufacturer's website. To be honest - consider doing this twice a year to stay current...
• If you have an inkjet printer and you get smudged or blurry images, you might want to look up the utility on the printer that cleans and or aligns the printer heads. Most inkjet printers either have software that can start this process or have a setting on the printer itself that can kick start it.
• If all of these solutions fail, you might want to search the manufacturer's support area for printer issues. Often there will be bulletins issued on how to fix newly discovered bugs.
• If you have a scanner and printer and experience printing problems take heart, this is easily solvable. Detach both devices and remove the software and drivers for both devices. Then reinstall the printer first and then add the scanner second.

Still not working - go to http://www.google.com/ or http://www.ask.com/ and search for the “printer” + “problem” you’ll be amazed at the solutions that will be offered, which will usually correct the problem…

If none of this works-Visit the printer manufacturer’s website or Call the printer manufacturer’s 1-800 number (on their website).

Be sure you have the make, model and serial # of your printer, your computer, know your operating system (Windows 98, XP, Vista, Windows 7 - 32 bit or 64 bit) and any warranty information & make the call from the desk where the printer is installed so you can work with them.

TROUBLESHOOT COMMON PRINTER PROBLEMS:

Here are a variety of common printer problems and their solutions to make your printing life easier. If nothing has changed on your printer or in your printer settings on your computer then chances are that the problem is quite straightforward. QUICK & EASY:

• Check the printer cable first off.
• Check power. This sounds stupid but it happens.
• Check and make sure printer is online.
• Check paper, toner, ink. These are common to go out and need replacement.
• Try a print test page. There may be a button on the printer itself that will do a test page for you. If the page prints out you know that the problem isn't the printer itself.
• Look at your printer settings. Make sure you are sending to the proper printer. Is the right one installed?
• Be sure that your USB cable is securely connected - if you have an older printer, check the parallel switchers and inspect the cable itself; new printer cables can be faulty (but this is very rare)
• Visit your manufacturer's website-they will have specific troubleshooting advice for each specific printer - simply put in your model # and it will walk you through a troubleshooting wizard

ALTHOUGH YOU MAY THINK YOU HAVE TO USE PAPER FROM THE PRINTER MANUFACTURER, this simply isn’t true. Try various brands until you find one that you are happy with; I’ve used Wal-Mart’s “MultipPurpose” (Georgia Pacific) 20# for many years. The packaging is purple & black - it is inexpensive & works great on any printer I've used it on..

CANCEL PRINT JOB

CANCEL PRINTING REQUESTS
Many printers have a cancel button allowing you to cancel a print job OR

When you give the command to print - the printer icon will appear in the bottom right hand corner in the "system tray" and remain there until your document is about 85% printed.
While the icon is there, you can cancel your print job.

• Double-click the printer icon in the "system tray"
• Choose Open Active Printer to see & cancel documents in que/line.

If you're printing a short document and background printing is turned on, the printer icon may not appear on the status bar long enough for you to click it to cancel printing

If you share a printer you can only cancel a job from the computer that sent the command (so you can't override someone else's print command - unless you are the administrator)