Whether at home or office, printer is the most important component of any computer network. Depending upon the printer technology, print speed, cost and dimension, assigned jobs or work-domain may differ. Some printer technologies don't work with certain types of physical media, such as carbon paper or transparencies. Connectivity can differ as well. It can be used as local peripheral, attached with a PC or laptop by means of printer cable or, in most new printers, a USB cable to a computer which serves as a document source. To work with multiple PCs a printer should have built-in network interfaces, typically wireless or Ethernet based. Nowadays, multifunction printers (MFP) or multi-function devices (MFD) are in trend which are supplementing scanning and copying as additional tasks. Brands like Lexmark and HP have even integrated LexPrint and HP ePrint respectively so as to bring more freedom. Now, you can even control your printer device using your mobile devices such a s smartphones, tablets, etc. Thus, empowering handheld devices and making those universal information access tools.
Printer setup and configuration is an easy task, and can be performed without any assistance. To setup a printer with a single PC or laptop you are just supposed to install the printer software, connect the printer via the USB cable, turn on the power and restart the PC or laptop. Printer software can be installed from the CD/DVD shipped with your printer device or can be downloaded from the manufacturer portal. Buy a wireless adapter that is compatible with your printer to make it work wirelessly. Plug it into your printer's USB port and install any software for the adapter, if it is not a plug-and-play adapter. From the system control panel explore "Network and Sharing Center." and click on "Printer Sharing." Then you will see another window that has a tab called "Turn On Printer Sharing." Turn it on and then apply the changes by clicking "Apply" on the bottom right corner of the screen. Next, navigate through the "View Computers and Devices" and select "Add Printer", th us your printer is configured wirelessly. You may avail printer support service from reliable sources available on the Internet. Experts can instruct you over the phone line to properly setup and configure your printer.
Printer errors or issues are quite frequent. There can be issues like, no print or pages coming blank, printhead errors, printer is busy or not responding, paper jam, or the print-task may slow down your computer, and more. You may do printer troubleshooting on your own using the printer manual. Inappropriately connected cable, corrupt drivers, or incompatible drivers and printer settings, missing updates, can also add to the printer problems. While selecting driver you must get the right one after analyzing the driver specification from the MSconfig utility. Sometimes, issues can be as simple as falling off a log, and a mere system restart can restore its functionality, saving your time and money both; at times it can be difficult and can't be fixed until you comes in touch with a printer technical support.
With the mushrooming of printer support portals on the Internet, it becomes vital to have thorough information regarding their services and reliability. Go through their news, reviews or customer testimonials before allowing experts to diagnose and fix your printer.
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