Beginner's Guide to Inkjet Printer Care

14 Jun, 2008, 3:17 pm IST | Gagan Gupta

Is your inkjet printer bleeding all over the page, or dry as a bone? Remember - printers need attention too!

Beginner's Guide to Inkjet Printer Care

In this final article in our Beginner's Special series, I thought it would be a good idea to touch on a subject that very few of us practice — inkjet printer care. Inkjets tend to have a high number of moving parts, so there's much that can go wrong with them. If you've been wondering why your inkjet printer hasn't been giving you the performance it used to, maybe it's time you give it the little bit of attention it deserves. So, here are a few tips that you need to follow to keep your printer running as good as new for a long time.

Part 1: Installation Tips

Always install the drivers first
Connecting a printer before installing the drivers (from the accompanying CD) is definitely not a good idea. Windows by default goes a bit haywire trying to figure out the USB device that you have attached to the PC, and without the drivers guiding it, it may just mark your printer as an 'Unknown USB Device'. You can avoid that mess by simply installing the drivers first and connect the printer to your PC once the drivers instruct you, or the installation is complete.

Your first print
Sure, you must be happy about getting that spanking new printer, but before you start shooting off prints, it would be a good idea to run a few maintenance tests first. All printers comes with basic maintenance tests like cartridge aligning and nozzle checking, which can be found under printer properties. It would take only a couple of minutes to do these checks, and once done, you can be sure that you will get optimum quality prints.

There's always a maintenance tab in the printer drivers

Get a cover
Dust is a printer's biggest nemesis. Considering how little home printers are used on average, it would be a great idea to get a cover for your printer while buying the printer itself. You don't want clogged nozzles and slippery rollers, do you?

Tags: inkjet , printer , Beginner's Guide

RELATED STORIES

Epson L100 Printer

Epson L100 Printer

Printers have become multi-functional devices with options like scanner, copier, fax and network printing all integrated into a single device.

Canon PIXMA 5270 Inkjet Multi Function Printer

HP Introduces 'Buy Back Offer' in India

Epson Launches the Fastest All-In-One Photo Printer

HP LaserJet M1213nf MFP

Brother HL-3070CW

Epson PictureMate PM310 Snapshot Printer

 

features

Tech2 Talks Printers With Canon, India

Tech2 Talks Printers With Canon, India

Tech2 got in touch with VP Sajeevan and imbibed his glimpses on Canon, and

By Rossi Fernandes

Multifunction Devices: A Perfect Solution for Offices

Multifunction Devices: A Perfect Solution for Offices

12 MFDs thoroughly tested, which one's going to sit in your office?

By Anand Tuliani

Print Your Own Booklets

Print Your Own Booklets

Save on paper and toner ink by printing in booklet format instead of using

By Sandeep Balachandran

MORE FEATURES

Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro Android Smartphone Review

Saumi Tra Katkurwar

Tue Feb 14, 23:25:10

Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro Android Smartphone Review

Saumi Tra Katkurwar

Tue Feb 14, 23:24:51

The Darkness II - Fear of the Dark

Durga Prasad

Tue Feb 14, 23:07:43

MORE DISCUSSIONS

Close