February 25, 2009
HP BLOAT
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 […] continued
December 23, 2008
PRINTER SOFTWARE & SLOWDOWNS
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 […] continued
December 5, 2008
SBS 2008 – MIGRATION GLITCHES
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. […] continued
July 30, 2008
WHAT I USE
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!
June 24, 2008
PRINTER CONNECTIONS
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
[…] continued
January 21, 2008
SHOPPING AT BEST BUY
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 […] continued
January 10, 2008
CHEAP STUFF
Printers are never as cheap as they seem, but it’s hard to argue with the HP Deskjet F2110, an all-in-one printer/scanner/copier, for $34 at Wal-Mart. Now keep in mind:
- It doesn’t appear on HP’s web site so it might be a stripped-down Wal-Mart exclusive.
- It doesn’t include a black ink cartridge or a USB cable so the price is a bit misleading.
- It’s probably a piece of crap.
But even when you take those things into account – well, $34 is really cheap. I fear for our landfills.
And here’s a couple of deals on widescreen Dell […] continued
June 20, 2007
INKJET PRINTERS ARE LYING THIEVES
You knew it was true, but finally there’s a study confirming that inkjet printers are filthy, lying thieves.
According to the report, an independent lab evaluated how much ink was left in a cartridge when a printer reported that the cartridge was out of ink. Results varied by manufacturer and printer model, but on average more than half the ink was still in the cartridges when the printers said to throw them away.
Epson printers were the champs, using more than 80% of the ink before demanding replacement; HP, Canon, Brother, Lexmark all posted varying scores on the way […] continued
May 23, 2007
BROTHER PRINTERS
I don’t want to jinx anything, but I’ve actually had a couple of good experiences with printers lately. I’ve set up several models of Brother laser printers that look sturdy, print quickly with a minimum of fuss, and install only simple, unobtrusive software.
When my Samsung color laser printer died prematurely, I bought the Brother HL-4040CN, a brand new model that is built compactly and handles paper and envelopes in straightforward ways. Here’s a review of the HL-4040CN. The Brother software detects it automatically when it’s connected to the network with a CAT5 cable; it can also connect […] continued
April 12, 2007
NETWORK SCANNING
I have long insisted that scanners had to be tethered to a computer because it wasn’t feasible to control a scanner across a network.
That began to be eroded by the floor-standing copiers that could scan sheet-fed documents at the speed of light and deposit PDFs onto a server, into a folder on a workstation, or into a hard drive built into the copier. I saw an Imagistics copier recently that had reworked its control panel to make it easy to stand at the copier and send PDF files flying all over.
Today I set up an HP OfficeJet […] continued
google web search
Custom Search