What computer trick have you learned recently?

[TromboneAl]

My Brother printer has been bugging me because it would tell me the cyan ink was empty even though I could see that there was still plenty left. Worse, it wouldn't even print black and white because of the "empty" cyan.

I learned, from this site, that I can fool the printer into thinking the ink is OK, by putting some black tape on the cartridge.

 

[easysurfer]

T-Al,

That's a pretty neat trick you discovered.

Can't think of any hardware related fixes myself at the moment. Sometimes I do select the print in greyscale option to conserve color cartrides that are low when there is plenty of black ink left.

IMO, I pretty much have given up on owning inkjets and prefer to try and get a laser as inkjets feel too much like bait and switch to me -- buy a color printer for $39 but then spend a fortune on inkjet refills.

Easysurfer

 

[dex]

Readability - An Arc90 Lab Experiment

http://www.emailtheweb.com/

 

[ERD50]

I learned, from this site, that I can fool the printer into thinking the ink is OK, by putting some black tape on the cartridge.

Yes, but now your VCR is blinking
"00:00"
"00:00"
"00:00"
"00:00"
"00:00"
"00:00"



OK, on the printer front, I learned that I can drill the top off an old cartridge, fill it with Rubbing alc and get a real good cleaning of the print head. But my printers use the old 'dumb' cartridges, no electronic over-rides on anything. It simply counts the amount of printing to estimate when the cartridge is near empty.

Too many cleaning cycles and the printer stops, claiming the absorbing pads are full. You can clean them and fix them yourself, at least on the Canon iXX and some Pixma series.

If you run out of black ink or your black is clogged, select your text and choose a very dark color (not totally black). The printer will use the colors to print, this can get you you something use-able until you have a chance to fix it.

Use a "print-to-pdf" function to avoid most printing in the first place. Built into Macs and Linux, there are ways to do it in Windows.

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

Sometimes I do select the print in greyscale option to conserve color cartrides that are low when there is plenty of black ink left.

Easysurfer

That is a good one. I have default settings in my printer list for the various quality levels, and I use the lowest one that will get the job done. Usually it just needs to be readable, I'm not producing ads for glossy magazines or anything. Prints MUCH faster, and saves ink.

-ERD50

 

[FIREd]

I have had wi-fi issues for a while (signal dropouts, slow network, etc...) and I found out yesterday that this was due to too many wireless routers in our neighborhood broadcasting at the same frequency and creating interferences. After doing some research on the topic, I have learned that routers could broadcast on different channels, and once I figured it out the fix was easy. Everything works great now.

 

[bbbamI]

Speaking of ink...this might save a buck or two...

Here's a way you might save $20 this year: Change the font in the documents you print.

Because different fonts require different amounts of ink to print, you could be buying new printer cartridges less often if you wrote in, say, Century Gothic rather than Arial. Schools and businesses could save thousands of dollars with font changes.

Here's a legal way to print money: change the font - Yahoo! News

 

[Onward]

Readability - An Arc90 Lab Experiment

That's my best recent trick too.

 

[Sue J]

I learned a similar trick for the toner cartridge for our Brother laser printer. When the empty toner light comes on and it stops printing you take out the cartridge and put tape on a little view window that the printer uses to sense toner level. Printing resumed and it kept printing for another 4 or 5 months. I watched a few online videos where folks demonstrated how to do it and how long it kept printing.

 

[easysurfer]

My favorite software freebie that I found recently:

Elias Fotinis DeskPins :: Make Any Window Topmost

 

[harley]

I discovered that I could buy DD a new HP 2660 inkjet printer cheaper than I could buy the new ink cartridges. I got it a month ago (with ink cartridges) for $28.99. The new cartridges would have cost $31.99.

 

[harley]

I posted this a while back in a different thread, but it's worth reposting. It's a hidden God Mode capability in Windows 7 (and 32 bit Vista).

"By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard-drive partition".

Understanding Windows 7's 'GodMode' | Beyond Binary - CNET News

 

[RunningBum]

I discovered that I could buy DD a new HP 2660 inkjet printer cheaper than I could buy the new ink cartridges. I got it a month ago (with ink cartridges) for $28.99. The new cartridges would have cost $31.99.

I've heard (but haven't verified) that the ink cartridges you often get with the new printer (especially cheapies) are 1/2 size of the ones you would buy.

 

[easysurfer]

Things never are the way thay seem...the ink cartridges are an investment and the printers are disposable

 

[harley]

I've heard (but haven't verified) that the ink cartridges you often get with the new printer (especially cheapies) are 1/2 size of the ones you would buy.

I checked before I bought, and the ones included with the printer listed the same number of pages printed per cartridge as the new ones. Who knows what they will really produce, though.

 

[dex]

Here's another one.
Simple Sticky Notes

 

[easysurfer]

Here's another one: Nico Cuppen Software - Fax software, photocopier software, utility programs for Windows :: Photocopier

Turn for scanner into a "copier"

 

[ERD50]

I guess I'm surprised at how many of these perceived valuable 'add-ons' are built right into the Mac OS.

'God-Mode'? geez, we call that 'System Preferences' ( a much more accurate name, IMO ), available on every Mac 'under the Apple'. No secret handshake required.

The one I have added to my Mac, and IIRC was on the first ones in 1984, but somehow faded away, is a multiple clipboard thingie. I use the one called PTHPasteboard, but there are others (the old version was free, and available if you search, but they push the pay one now). Saves the last 100 or so things you copied, so you can go back and paste something from recent history. Really should be built in, I think excel on Windows had some limited capability like this, I don't know if W7 has this or not.


-ERD50

 

[harley]

Here's another one.
Simple Sticky Notes

Been using a similar app for years Stickies. Great, I use it nearly every day.

I don't want to be too obvious or anything, but do y'all know about pdf printers like Bullzip FREE PDF Printer? Allows you to virtually print any document into a pdf format instead of to paper. Cuts down on physical (paper) storage tremendously.

 

[tryan]

Had trouble with a Carot cartridge for a Dell printer. Called tech support thinking it would be a "return". The rep said to it in warm water (up to the lower 1/2 of the cartridge). This freed the clog ink jets ... worked like charm.

 

[FUEGO]

This isn't exactly a trick but more of a long term cost savings thing.

Ditch the inkjet and get a laser printer. This mainly applies if you are okay with black and white printing only. You can usually find a black and white laser printer for $50-75 if you're willing to jump through a small hoop (like print a coupon or submit a rebate). The toner lasts forever (well, many many times longer than an inkjet), and I don't think they "clog" or "dry out" in my experience. And I have been successful in replacing my toner with a generic toner for $35 or so, which is not a whole lot more than generic inkjet cartridges that seemed to dry out every 2 weeks. I think the toner works out to roughly a penny per page printed ($35 for 3000 or 5000 sheets IIRC). One potential downside is that the laser printer may be bulkier than your inkjet.

 

[walkinwood]

Improve the efficiency of your searches
20 Tips for More Efficient Google Searches - by Dumb Little Man

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

My Brother printer has been bugging me because it would tell me the cyan ink was empty even though I could see that there was still plenty left. Worse, it wouldn't even print black and white because of the "empty" cyan.

I learned, from this site, that I can fool the printer into thinking the ink is OK, by putting some black tape on the cartridge.

I wish I had learned that last year, Al. My Brother multi-function printer choked on me that way. I dumped it and bought a Canon--which recently did the same thing to me and I found a similar trick for it.