Make Your PC Work Better

Improve Your Printing Speed

Windows defaults to spooling print jobs. The Print Spooler is a background program that writes data to temporary files in your C:\Windows\Temp directory. Although this lets you perform other tasks while you print, it does slow printing.

1. On most printers, you can turn off the spooler by going to Start > Settings > Printers. Right-click on the icon of the printer you're using.

2. Click Properties and select the Details tab. Click on the Spool Settings button at the bottom of the dialog box.

3. Select the Print Directly to Printer option. This will tie up your application until the printer has all the data, but your print job should finish more quickly.

Printing directly to the printer will also come in handy if your print spooler crashes and you need to print before you reboot your PC.

When Printing Problems Occur in Only One Application

Try printing from Notepad or WordPad to make sure that the problem is limited to just one application and isn't indicative of a problem with Windows.

If the problem occurs in one document only, try to print a blank page inside the application. If this prints, the application may have problems with memory or fonts.

If you're using a 16-bit application, the problem could be an INI file that needs to be modified to accommodate the application. You should reinstall the application and contact the manufacturer of the application for specific settings that might affect printing.

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