Thanks so much, J. in York, ME

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Dear J,

I did a little research on HPs website, and it looks like you have one of the few printers that is not compatible with Windows 7.

For the most part, HP is pretty good at releasing updated drivers for new operating systems as they come out. For some reason, they have a short list of printers that will not work with Windows 7.

I don’t have any way for you to adapt your printer to the new computer, there are a couple of things you could do to adapt your computer to the printer, but neither option is simple, or inexpensive.

You could install an older operating system on the new PC. Either Visa or XP would work with your printer. Installing an older operating system is not easy though. You would have to erase the hard drive, and then install the older OS. It is a fairly technical job, and you might run into problems with newer hardware and programs not working with the older OS.

If you have Windows 7 Professional, you can install a “Virtual PC” environment from Microsoft’s website. You would then be able to install and use the printer from the virtual XP mode. However, you would also have to run any program you wanted to print from in XP mode as well. If you don’t have the Professional version of Windows 7, you would need to upgrade, which is rather expensive as well.

Virtual XP mode is good if you have a program that only works with older versions of Windows. I have used it in the past on my computer to use a scanner that is not compatible with Windows 7. I used the Virtual XP mode to scan my photos and then was able to use them in Windows 7 with my regular programs.

Either of the options above could easily end up being just as expensive as replacing your printer, and both options would be more troublesome in the long run.

I hope this gives you some options to think about, and helps you make a decision.

Elizabeth

I let it rest for three days, but no improvement  .
 
What can I do to restore the right performance? Is there a way to cancel the memory from the keyboard??
 
Thanks for your help, Bob

Dear Bob,

There are a couple of things you can try before you give up on your printer.

First, is to empty the print queue. If there are items waiting to be printed, there will be a small printer icon in the system notification area near the time. This is usually located along the right-hand edge of the taskbar.

Double click on the printer icon, and a small window will open listing the documents waiting to be printed. Right click on each document and cancel printing for each one. Start at the bottom of the list of documents and work your way up. When you get to the top document, right click on it, and click “Pause” to stop the print job, then right click again and cancel the print job.

Once all the print jobs have been canceled, unplug the power from your printer, and leave it unplugged while you restart your computer. Plug the printer back in, turn it on, and see if you are now able to print.

If your printer still doesn’t work, you can try un-installing all the printer software, and then re-installing it. First, turn off your printer. Next, go to the Control Panel. Under “Hardware” and then “printers”, right-click on your printer, and click “Remove Device”.

Now, go to the “Programs” section of the Control Panel, and click on “Uninstall a program”. Find any programs in the list that go with your printer, click on them one at a time, then click on “Uninstall” in the menu bar at the top.

Once you have uninstalled all the printer programs, restart your computer, then put in the printer CD that came with your printer and follow the directions to install it. If you don’t have the CD, or if you want the most updated printer software, you should be able to find it on HP’s website and download it from there.

If installing the software again doesn’t work, then it is probably time to go and purchase a new printer.

Elizabeth

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Dear Roseann,

The problem with printer repair is that by the time you pay someplace to fix it, you have spent more than you would have on a new printer. Your problem could be as simple as dusty rollers (paper dust, not house dust) or some of the gears (or other parts) could be broken.

If there are broken parts, you should just get yourself a new printer. It will cost more to purchase parts and fix the printer, than to replace it.

If you suspect that the rollers are working, but slipping on the paper, there are a few things you can try yourself before you give up on this printer.

First, before you try anything, be sure to unplug the printer.

Take a damp cloth and clean all the rollers that you can reach. This should remove any little bits of paper dust that might prevent the rollers from “grabbing” the paper.

If that doesn’t work, try cleaning the rollers with a cotton swab moistened with alcohol. Although alcohol will dry out the rollers over time, I wouldn’t worry about it too much with a printer that is already 5 years old. It just might give you a few extra years of use.

I hope this fixes your problem.

Elizabeth

Frances

Dear Frances,

If you want to make permanent changes to your printer settings, you will need to change those settings in the Control Panel.

Open the Control Panel by clicking on “Start” and then “Control Panel”. Open the “Printers” window in the Control Panel. In the Printers window, RIGHT click on your printer and then click “Properties” Make the changes to your paper size or any other changes that you want to make, then click “OK” to save your changes and close the Properties window.

Once you have completed those steps, you will not have to change the paper size each time you want to print.

Elizabeth

Thanks, Marilyn

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Dear Marilyn,

I wish I had more information about your printers, how old they are, how well they work, how expensive they were, and what kind of printers they are.

Since I don’t know those things, I am just going to give you some general guidelines for you to consider when making decisions about printers and operating systems.

The first thing to look for is updated drivers on the printer manufacturers website. Many companies will provide updated printer drivers on their websites when a new operating system comes out. If, for example your printer is an HP printer, you can go to www.hp.com and search for your model printer. Then you will be able to see if there are Windows 7 drivers provided for your printer.

Some printer manufacturers are better at releasing updated drivers than others.

If you find that your printer does not have updated available, you will have to decide what to do with your operating system. You could install a previous version of Windows on your new computer. I don’t know if this is something you are comfortable doing yourself, but if not, you could have your local computer shop do this. Keep in mind, however, that it is probably less expensive to just purchase a new printer that supports Windows 7 than it is to buy a copy of Windows XP and hire someone to install it on your computer for you. Not to mention the fact that your computer will be less secure with an older version of Windows installed than it would be with Windows 7 installed.

Another option available to you would be to install Windows 7 Professional (instead of the home version). Windows 7 professional allows you to install a nice Virtual XP mode which would then allow you to run older programs and hardware. Again, you will have to compare the cost of upgrading to Windows 7 professional against the cost of just purchasing a new printer.

HP Laser Printers

In the future, when purchasing a printer, you might want to think about a business class printer. Most printer manufacturers provide more support for their business printers, and will keep writing updated software packages longer than they do for home printers. A nice laser printer will last a lot longer, and cost you less in toner than you spend in ink for a home inkjet printer.

I hope this helps, Elizabeth

Thanks, Jim

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Dear Jim,

There is a good chance that you won’t have to do anything, just plug the printer USB cable into the new laptop and see if it will automatically recognize and set up the printer.

If it doesn’t, you can go to HP’s website, find your printer and download drivers for your new laptop. I will give you an example.

I have an HP PSC 1500 series printer, which I will use for my example.

1. Go to the HP website at www.hp.com
2. Click on “Support & Drivers”.
3. Select “Download drivers and software” under Step 1.
4. Type in PSC 1500 in the Product name/number box under step 2, and click “Go”.
5. My search results give me several options for my printer, click on the correct option.
6. On the next screen, there is a box for you to select your operating system, click the drop-down list and click on your operating system.
7. Click the “Next” button.
8. From here, you will have the option to either download the software for your printer, or order it on a CD.

Elizabeth

How can I change this? Becky

Dear Becky,

This is actually a setting in your printer properties.

I can’t tell you exactly how to change this setting since you have not told me what kind of printer you have, but I can point you in the right direction to find the setting and change it.

First, you need to access the properties for your printer. Here is how to do that in Windows 7

Click on the “Start Orb” and then click on “Devices and Printers” on the right side of the start menu.

In the Devices and Printers window that opens, right click on your printer, and click on “Printing Preferences”

The options you will see in the Printing Preferences window will vary depending on the type of printer you have, so at this point, I will tell you where the setting is for my HP Color LaserJet 2605. You might have to look around in your printing preferences dialog box to find the same settings.

For my HP printer, I click on the “Advanced” tab, and in the “Layout Options” section, I can change the page order from “Front to Back” to “Back to Front”.

Once I have made my selection, I click the “OK” button at the bottom of the dialog box to save my changes and close the window.

I hope this helps you find the settings for your printer.

Elizabeth

Thank you for your time and keep up the great work. Linda

Dear Linda,

I can share with you how to print your contacts in Vista, there are only three option for printing, Memo, Business Card, and Phone list. Probably the Business card is the closest to what you are looking for since it prints out phone numbers and email addresses for each contact.

1. Open Windows Contacts by clicking the “Start Orb”, then All Programs, and finally click “Windows Contacts”. (you can also open Windows contacts, by tapping the Windows Logo key, typing “contacts”, and pressing the enter key on your keyboard)

2. Click on the contact you want to print. If you want to print more than one contact, click on the first one, then hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard while clicking on additional contacts. If you want to print them all, click on the first one, then hold down the Ctrl key while you tap the letter A to select all the contacts.

3. Click “Print” in the command bar at the top of the contacts window.

4. In the Print dialog box, select your print style (Memo, Business Card, or Phone List) and number of copies, then click the “Print” button.

If this does not give you the exact results that you are looking for, you can export your contacts to a spreadsheet, then edit the spreadsheet to reflect just the information you want to print.

First, if the command bar at the top of your contacts window does not contain the commands for import and export, you will need to change the properties of your window. Here is how to do that:

1. Right click on a blank spot in your Contacts window, and click on “Properties”. 2. In the Contacts Properties window, click on the “Customize” tab. 3. In the section that says “What kind of folder do you want?”, click on the drop down list and select “Contacts” 4. Click “OK” to save your changes.

Now, to export your contacts:

1. Click on the “Export” button in the command bar. 2. A small window will open asking you to select the format you want to export the contacts to. Click on “CSV” to select it. 3. Click the “Export” button. 4. In the next window, type a name for your file, click the “Browse” button to select a location for your file, then click the “Save” button. 5. This will take you back to the CSV Export window. Click the “Next” button here. 6. Now you will be asked to select the fields you want to export. Since you only want names and email addresses, click to put a check mark in front of “Name” and “E-mail Address”. You can click to remove the check mark from fields you don’t want included. 7. When you are all set, click the “Finish” button and your new file will be created.

Now, just open the file and you can print it.

Elizabeth

Please help if you can, Mary

Dear Mary,

If you are trying to print a 4X6 photo on a 4×6 piece of photo paper, what you are experiencing is a physical limitation of the printer. It just can’t print all the way to the edges of the paper.

It is best to print on a larger sheet of paper, then trim off the white edges.

I find that it is less frustrating, and less expensive to simply order prints from one of the online printing services.

Elizabeth

I have a new dell computer.  My epson printer and scanner is not conpatible with vista. Is there a way to find a new driver that will solve the problem?

Thank you, Liz

Dear Liz,

If Epson has drivers for your printer and scanner that work with Vista, they will be on the Epson website. You are fortunate that you have an Epson product, they are quite good about providing updated drivers for their high-end products on their website.

Your first step is to look on the front of your printer, scanner or all-in-one appliance and write down the model and model number. I have two Epson Scanners, one that is almost 8 years old, and a new one that I just purchased for scanning magazines in my sewing room. My Scanner model and number looks something like this:

Epson Perfection 2450 Photo for the old scanner, and Epson Perfection V300 Photo for the new one.

When you go to the Epson website at www.epson.com, you will first have to click on the country you are in, before you will see the main page.

On Epson’s front page, point to the menu item that says, “Drivers and Support” and a sub-list will drop down. Click on the type of item you have in the drop down list, either Printers, Scanners or All-In-Ones.

I have an Epson Scanner , so I will click on Scanners.

Next, I need to select the type of scanner, since mine is an Epson Perfection scanner, I will click on the link that says, “Epson Perfection Series”.

The Epson webpage will now display a list with each model in the series, and you just need to click on your model. I clicked on my Epson Perfection 2450 photo model since it is the oldest and didn’t come with Vista drivers.

The Epson website will now display four options for your scanner;

• Drivers and downlaods
• Top FAQs For This Product
• Documents and Manuals
• Contact Support

We want to click on “Drivers and Downloads”.

The next web page shows you a list of available drivers for different operating systems. Even though my old scanner is almost 8 years old, there is a driver listed for Windows Vista 32-bit edition.

Click the link above your Windows version, and the description will be expanded like in the picture below:

Click on the Download Now link to download the driver for your device. Save the driver to a folder on your hard drive, either on your desktop, in your “Documents” folder, or “Downloads” folder.

Once the file has finished downloading, double click on it to install the driver program.

Elizabeth