You should have a good working relationship with your printer in order to have a happy computer and online experience, and maybe save some cash on ink. Here are a few tips, tricks and procedures you will surely find handy.
If you have ever printed a Web page, or even just part of one, you probably saw the annoying result: the sides were cut off. To fix this, you must use Landscape printing, which turns the page around. Click File, Print, Preferences (or Properties), Layout (or similar). Click Landscape, OK, Print (or OK), and watch what happens.

Of course, we often want to print only a portion of a page. In that case, highlight what you want, then click File, Print, Selection (switch to Landscape if you like), then click Print. If you have difficulty highlighting the part you want, click at the beginning of the section, then press and hold Shift and click at the end of the portion you want to print. The section will now be highlighted; click File, Print, Selection, Print.

This procedure will sometimes include ads or other stuff you do not want. In that case, copy and paste the section you want into a MS Word document, or similar program. There you can edit it as you like before printing. One day you may find yourself on a Web page with no Toolbar, and no obvious way to print. Just press Ctrl + P to bring up the Print dialog box.

You are probably looking for ways to save ink. Here are a few things to keep in mind. When you buy a printer, look for one with separate color cartridges, or at least one cartridge for colors and one for black ink. If all the colors are in one single cartridge, you will have to replace the whole thing when just one color is used up.

Another way to save ink is to use the lowest print quality you find acceptable. Try Draft mode if you have it. To set the defaults, click Start, Printers and Faxes. Right-click your printer name and select Printing Preferences, Paper/Quality tab. For most print jobs, try Draft or Normal. Only when you really need top quality should you select Best. Same with the color settings. Select Black, and switch to Color only when you need it. To change the settings for a single printing, click File, Print, Properties (or Preferences), Paper/Quality tab. Make your selections for quality and color, and click OK, Print (or OK).

The settings are different for every printer, so hunt around and familiarize yourself with your options.

A common printing frustration is dealing with large documents. You may only want to print a few selected pages here and there, not the whole darn thing. Do not hit the printer icon on your Toolbar. That will usually print out the whole file. Instead click File, Print. To print the page the cursor is presently on, click Current page, OK. To print various pages, click Pages, and enter them in the space provided, separated by commas like this: 8,11,19 and click OK. You can also enter ranges, such as 22-27. Or mix it up like this: 4,7,9-12,16 This will print pages 4, 7, 9 to 12, and 16. And possibly save you some ink and money.

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here:
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