Absolute Beginners Guide to A+ Certification. Covers the Hardware and Operating Systems Exam

Like any other device, a printer requires software to drive it. MS-DOS and command-prompt programs in Windows can print plain-text output to all printers except PostScript printers. Windows can also output plain text but must use the Generic/Text-only printer driver for this. To use the printer's special fonts, graphics, or other features, printer drivers made for the printer model or for its recommended emulation must be used.

Printer drivers are selected in either applications or the operating system. MS-DOS software uses its own printer drivers; Windows applications use the printer drivers installed in Windows.

Windows printer drivers can be installed from

• The Windows installation CD-ROM

• Installation floppy disks or CD-ROMs supplied with the printer

• Driver files downloaded from the manufacturer's Web site

The most recent and full-featured printer drivers are found on the manufacturer's Web site, followed by the driver disks or CD-ROM included with the printer. These often have enhanced features not found in the standard printer drivers supplied with Windows (such as ink- or toner-level monitoring and head-cleaning routines) and are usually much more recent. However, Microsoft recommends that you use its own printer drivers whenever possible if you are installing a service pack for Windows; service packs might not work correctly if you have a vendor-supplied printer driver installed.

A new printer can be installed at any time; with Windows, any programs that use printers should be closed to enable common files used by all printers to be updated, particularly with Windows 9x/Me.

If you are installing a printer that wasn't packaged with a printer driver made especially for it, use the following options to configure the printer:

• Download a new driver from the manufacturer's Web site.

• Check the manual for recommended emulations.

• For inkjet printers used with an MS-DOS program, choose the most similar inkjet printer made by the same maker, or a dot-matrix printer that the inkjet printer emulates.

• If you want to use any printer with an MS-DOS program, you need to set up Windows to properly handle print jobs. With Windows 9x/Me, open the Details tab of a local printer's Properties sheet, click Port Settings, and make sure the Spool MS-DOS Print Jobs box is checked. Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP automatically spool print jobs to the printer attached to LPT1.

• To print to a network printer from Windows, you need to use one of these methods . With Windows 9x/Me, open the Details tab of the printer's Properties sheet, click Capture Printer Port, select LPT1, and specify the path to the network printer. (Replace the text in italics with the actual server and shared printer name on your network.)

  \ servername\printername

  Click the Reconnect at Login box to make the connection persistent.

  With Windows NT/2000/XP, open a command-prompt session and enter the following command:

  net use lpt1 \ servername \ printername /persistent:yes

Always use the Windows Test Print feature or create and print an MS-DOS document to see how well the substitute printer driver performs . Acquire and install the correct printer driver as soon as possible.