Access printers and solve common problems

In XP select ‘Printers and other hardware’ from Control Panel and click ‘Printers and Faxes’. In Vista and Windows 7, type ‘printers’ into the Start menu search box and press Enter. Hover the mouse over the printer icon and its status will be displayed. If it’s ‘offline’, ensure the printer is switched on and the USB cable is attached to both printer and PC.

If you are still having problems printing, clear all the documents that have been sent to the printer. Double-click the printer icon and all current print jobs will be displayed (in Windows 7, right-click the icon and select ‘See what’s printing’). To clear all documents from the printer queue, click on the Printer menu and select ‘Cancel all documents’.

Windows 7 has some advanced troubleshooting tools that often sort out the most common printing problems. To use them, right-click the printer and select the Troubleshoot option. Windows 7 will perform a variety of tests on the printer and, after a short wait, will report on any errors it found. If this fails, restart the computer and printer.