Windows® 7 All-in-One for Dummies®

Chapter VIII.3. Printing (Almost) Effortlessly

In This Chapter

• Attaching a new printer to your PC or network

• Solving print queue problems

• Considering other multi-function (print, scan, copy, fax) devices

• Troubleshooting other problems with printers

• Stopping a runaway printer

Ah, the paperless office. What a wonderful concept! No more file cabinets bulging with misfiled flotsam. No more hernias from hauling cartons of copy paper, dumping the sheets 500 at a time into a thankless plastic maw. No more trees dying in agony, relinquishing their last gasps to provide pulp as a substrate for heat-fused carbon toner. No more coffee-stained reports. No more paper cuts.

No more ...oh, who the heck am I trying to kid? No way.

Note

Industry prognosticators have been telling us for more than a decade that the paperless office is right around the corner. Yeah, sure. Maybe around your corner. Around my corner, I predict that PC printers will disappear about the same time that Star Trek reruns go off the air. We're talking geologic time here, folks.

The biggest problem? Finding a printer that doesn't cost two arms and three legs to, uh, print. Toner cartridges cost a fortune. Ink costs two fortunes. That bargain-basement printer you can get for $65 will probably print, oh, about ten pages before it starts begging for a refill. And four or five refills can easily cost as much as the printer.

Gillette may have originated the razor-and-blades business model, but it took the likes of HP and Brother and Canon ...