Mac OS X Printing (Windows too)

Lately I have had a number of clients using Mac Os X (all flavors) with printing issues. There are a few things that you can do to save a service call from your favorite tech.

It seems that there are many problems that occur when the print monitor stops the printing. This can happen when your ink is low in the printer or when you run out of paper. Most print monitors will automatically start the printing again, BUT there are time when this doesn't happen. In order to be sure the printer is being told to print, you will need to go to the print monitor. Often times there will be an icon in the dock (the blue thing with all the icons in it) for the printer. Click on it; in the window that opens look at the bar along the top. The available option should be "Stop", if the option is "Go" you need to tell the printer to "Go" by clicking on the word "Go". There are many case when this is all that is need to get your printer working again.

In some cases the print monitor may not be in the dock. If this is the case you will need to go to the Applications folder, then to the Utilities folder and then to the Printer application (it may say setup, but the important word is Printer). Click this application and then double click the printer that is not working. The print monitor will come up and you can go through the steps outlined in the last paragraph.

Windows users have the same ability, but I haven't seen many Windows issues like this. If you are a Windows user you can go to the Start Menu, then to Printers and Faxes (some may say just Printers) and in the window that opens, double click on the icon for the printer that you want check. A window will open and the job that is printing will appear. You can delete the job and reset the print monitor.

Windows XP Daylight Savings Time Patch

I noticed that there were a number of odd occurances when my computer did it's DST update from Microsoft.

When the patch was first installed I noticed that annual holidays (b'days, anniversary, et al) were now covering two days in my Outlook program. I actually got a call from someone who needed me to confirm some dates that I would be visiting, because his Outlook had done the same thing.

I adjusted the dates so they were correct for the current month and thought nothing else about it. What happened over the course of the next few days was very odd. When I started my computer I noticed that the mouse (cursor) would not move and then it went, but only in fits and starts. There were periods of time my computer was unusable. How frustrating! After a couple of hours things were better, but not perfect. It took at least three days for all these odd occurances to stop.

It is my belief (read I haven't seen anything to support this) that the patch went through all the applications on my computer that have a date stamp function and verified that all was in order. The process was most frustrating because it rendered my computer not usable while it was doing its thing. It would have been far better if Microsoft had created the patch with an information window that notified the user of what was going on.

A Humble Beginning

Today I am posting my first blog. I am not sure how this is going to go, but I thought I would give it a shot. I have a client who wants to start a blog, so I thought I should test it out. That way I would be prepared when he had "issues". I may also use this to post tech information for clients and as a communication tool. We'll just have to see. PRD