If It Prints, I'll Let You Know

Computer drivers are not your normal chauffeurs; they don’t come with a license, uniform and hat.
Have you ever replaced a printer only to fire it up and find it won’t work? Most likely your new hardware will not work because your computer does not have the correct printer driver installed for the new addition. OK, let’s dispense with the suspense—what the heck is a driver?

Like we said earlier, a computer driver is not your normal chauffeur even though it does perform the task of figuratively driving a printer. A printer driver is actually software that converts data into a form specified by a particular printer model. In layman’s terms drivers are software programs that convert printing requests into a language the printer can understand.

Think of your 4 year old computer as English speaking. Then further imagine that you just bought a HP Photosmart C4480 to print up all your family vacation prints. Now, imagine that you plug in the printer all set with a stack of photo paper and an extra remanufactured color cartridge you bought online for only $16.95, only to find you cannot print. What has effectively happened is that your new printer only understands Italian and the computer is trying to talk to it in English. With out installing the proper driver to “translate” your computer’s English into Italian data required by the printer, the printer won’t work.

Don’t worry, you can find drivers for all printer types online. In the case above simply navigate to HP’s home page, find the driver you need (Photosmart C4480 driver) and download it. Once the driver is installed your hardware will be speaking the same language and you will be able to print your photos.

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