bruceb news

Previously: HP OfficeJet 8600 Plus

Here’s a reminder to always do a custom install with any program, and watch carefully for unwanted software that may be installed alongside the program you want.

HP has a long history of slow installation routines that sneak unwanted advertising and programs onto your computer. The installation program for the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus is slightly better than the OfficeJet 8500, but there are still too many chances to wind up assaulted with ads and unwanted bloat.

The opening setup screen presents five pieces of “recommended software.” Only if you read the first sentence carefully does it become clear that none of them are required to use the printer. […] continued

After some research, I settled on HP’s new OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus to replace an aging inkjet printer and defunct flatbed scanner. My early impressions are good. Here are some of the reasons it’s a good fit for me (and might or might not be good for you).

The fundamentals are all there, better than previous generations. In fact, the OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus looks a lot like HP is making a serious effort to respond to people’s complaints and come up with something new and satisfying.

Printing is surprisingly fast – pages spit out more like what you’d expect from a laser printer than an inkjet. […] continued

Previously:
Annoying Checkboxes (Microsoft Office)
Ban The Check (Java, iTunes)

This week’s installment of Annoying Checkboxes comes to us courtesy of HP, always a reliable source of installation routines that take too long and bloat your system with too much crud. Now they’ve added a non-standard installation routine that seems designed to conceal the sneaky advertising and crapware that will be loaded onto your computer if you’re not careful.

I was setting up the HP OfficeJet 8500, a perfectly nice all-in-one for small offices. As always with HP, there are more choices of drivers than you expect – in this case, for Windows 7 64-bit, a “Basic Print and Scan Driver” and a “Full Feature Software and Driver.” Note that the “basic driver” is a 241Mb download, which strikes me as being excessive for a “basic driver,” by a factor of ten or so. […] continued

Here are a few anecdotes about setting up printers and scanners on new Windows 7 computers.

When Windows 7 connects to a new device, it attempts to install drivers automatically, and goes online to Microsoft if it can’t find drivers locally. It is successful so often that I’ve changed my procedure – I connect USB devices to a new computer without putting a CD in the drive or running a setup program. In most cases, Windows sets up the device perfectly well using the simplest possible drivers.

There are always exceptions. That’s why I’m fabulously wealthy, is because of the exceptions. […] continued

It seems we’re constantly buying printers to replace the ones that break before their time. A quick word of advice if you buy an HP printer: don’t put that installation CD in the drive! The chances are good that you’ll wind up with hundreds of megabytes of bloated software that will muck up your nice shiny computer (and at worst thoroughly break it).

Always check the HP web site for the slimmest drivers that will support the basic functions – making the printer available to the computer for printing and scanning. You already have nice programs to take over from there. […] continued

The headline tells the story of this Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Severe system performance problems occur on a Windows Vista or Windows XP-based computer after you install HP printer software, version 11 (Microsoft KB960673)

To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this problem in the real world. “On a Windows Vista or Windows XP-based computer, you install the HP Customer Participation version 11 software that is included with Hewlett-Packard’s new printers. After you do this, you may experience an overall slowing of your computer performance because of an error in this application.”

But I know that HP has been doing a terrible job of supplying software with their printers for the last few years, so this is just an extreme example of a bigger problem. […] continued

Let me leave a few notes behind about some of the glitches during the migration from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008. I don’t have many answers but perhaps it will help someone to know that I’m able to commiserate with them. (Loyal clients – this is not aimed at you and it won’t help you get your work done. I’ll be back to general interest topics next week!)

As background: I was migrating an SBS 2003 server with a very basic configuration – no ISA, no use of Sharepoint, a single NIC and external firewall, and no particular pre-existing issues.

MIGRATION WIZARD

Microsoft provides a detailed guide to the migration procedure. […] continued

On the assumption that my choices are endlessly fascinating to an ever-growing number of people – really, really bored people – I’ve added a page with details about the hardware and software that I use here at the high-tech headquarters of bruceb consulting. I’ll try to keep it up to date. Heck, my computers are happy – you could do worse than follow my example in precise detail.

Click here for all the prurient details!

Let me give you a simplified overview of printer terms, then offer a tip that might save a few seconds someday. (This is basic stuff. If you can tell where I’m leaving things out, then this isn’t for you.)

LOCAL PRINTER 

A local printer is connected to your computer with a USB cable.

• Installation: almost always, the software for a local USB printer is installed before the USB cable is attached to the computer – insert the CD or download and run the installation software for the printer before hooking it up.

NETWORK PRINTER 

This term has become ambiguous.

[…] continued

Sonoma County has a serious shortage of places to buy technology. It was a little upsetting when CompUSA announced it was closing, since it had a better inventory of network equipment than anywhere else nearby for those days when things have to be bought on short notice. It’s gone now. No more dealing with the obnoxious clerk that tried too hard to sell extended warranties.

When I needed a USB hub on Friday, I went into Best Buy for the first time in more than a year.

Something strange had happened.

The store was neat and well organized.

It had a reasonably wide selection of computer and technology products, and inventory was well-stocked. […] continued