Installing and Managing Printers

Before we install and manage printers, we need to get some definitions out of the way. First, quick, look around your office and point to your printer. Did you point to that beige box with the HP logo on the front, the thing that spits out paper every so often? If you did, sorry, you failed Microsoft Printers 101! If you pointed at the printer icon on your computer screen, you are correct. Now, before you decide that this book must be worthless and use it to line the birdcage, hold on a minute. There is a method to the madness. Microsoft defines that square thing that spits out paper as a print device. They define a printer as the software interface between the operating system and the print device. The reason for this distinction is that multiple “printers” can be configured to point to the same print device, thus creating some pretty cool features. The following list summarizes these terms: • Printer The software interface between a print device and the operating system. • Print device The physical piece of hardware that actually performs the printing. Most people refer to a print device simply as a printer. • Print server Any computer on which a local printer is attached. The print server receives documents from clients and sends them to the print device for printing. A print server can be any Windows computer (Server or Professional). Also, installing a printer is a little different than installing other hardware. Both local printers and network printers can be installed on the computer. Printers are installed by using the Printers and Faxes applet in the Control Panel. The Printers and Faxes applet is also located directly on the Start menu for convenience.