Printers
When are we gonna get rid of these things? They waste paper. They break because they have too many moving parts. The driver model (software you install to make them work) needs top be constantly massaged and updated for them to work on your computer.
They give IT guys constant headaches, and I am not even talking about when they, god forbid, involve a copier or are an all-in-one machine with a scanner.
Here are a couple tips for setting up a new printer.
1. When you buy a new printer, don’t even bother with the CD in the box. Don’t throw it away either. Keep it to the side and go directly to the manufactures website and search for the latest software for your machine. This will help avoid issues with operating system compatibility.
2. Load only the driver that are for your OS. If your “new” printer only has software for Windows XP and you are on Windows 7, take it back!
3. Use the printing and scanning utilities that are included with your OS. If you plug in your new printer (or scanner) and it automatically installs all the soft ware form the internet, stop there. Both Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard have very good utilities on making your devices function properly out of the box. I especially like the fact that Apple will occasionally get updates direct from the manufacture and load the via Software update.
