Byte by Bite

Needs Headline

by Marv Dealy

“First the light went off and it appeared dead. After about 3 weeks the light went back on - a miracle. It printed a test page, but then would not print a document. My husband uninstalled the printer and then went to re-install. He got a message that the system does not support the printer. So now what? Do we never update the system again or do we have to buy a new printer?”

This letter is just so much fun, Susan, you’re going to have to bear with me for a minute here. First, of course, is the well known rule that if you (a) live in a town whose name ends in “ville” or (b) are of otherwise sound mind you should know better by now than to expect your Windows computer peripherals to work after downloading another update from Microsoft for its someday-to-be-replaced operating system.

Second, your observance of a miracle in Soulsbyville risks, I’m sure, a rush of the faithful to see the light that came back on.

Third, a portion of your email address—sorcerer—leads me to believe that you ought to have been able to use divination to ascertain the solution to your problem.

Enough merriment—the printer failed after Susan’s husband installed an update to Windows 2000. I’m guessing here that the printer driver—a bit of software that gets the printer to work with your computer—got eaten in the upgrade process. Probably nothing you did, just a sick little joke perpetrated by some “gotcha” from Microsoft. To get what HP considers their most current printer driver, go to HP.com and look for a link called Software & Driver Downloads on the lower left side of the page.

Click that link and on the page that opens up is a box to type your printer type into. Type 952C into the search window, and links will appear to 950C or 952C software. Click on the 952C link, and a page appears giving you the different operating systems that HP offers printer drivers for. Choose the Windows 2000 link for your computer, and the download page appears. You probably want the second one listed, which is printer software for home users using either USB or parallel cable connections. Download and install that and you ought to be back in business. Write again if that doesn’t work.

From reader Tamara Mitchell, her Doberman and her 180 pound parakeet comes the following “But wait! There's more! As continued fallout from your column, Mother Lode Internet has contacted Phoenix Lake Water Co. and indicated they are still interested in putting a repeater (or tower) on their property on Bear Cub Dr. What amazing power the press has—woke them right up out of their trance.”

“Anyway, since I'm the Prez of Phoenix Lake CC Estates Property Owners

Assn., it's come full circle and Mother Lode Internet wants to put a mail-back postcard in our quarterly newsletter for market research purposes to find out exactly how many people would use DSL here. Clearly, they are too late for me since I'm now a happy user of WildBlue. If they'd just followed up 1 1/2 years ago on my initial call, I would have their DSL now. You snooze, you lose.”

Well, Tamara, all of us who have something to do with “the press” appreciate your estimation of the power we wield. That apparently takes the place of money in this business. In any event, I’m sure that Mother Lode Internet has just been in an intensive 1 ½ year “planning cycle” that just happened to end about the time I made my comments. A coincidence.

Let us all know if they actually follow through this time. And any of you out there to whom this applies might want to be all over Mother Lode Internet telling them “I want my DSL.” And Tamara—wired is always better than wireless. If and when you can get DSL, junk the satellite. The DSL will be way cheaper each month, with faster speeds available, and you never have to wipe the snow off the DSL line.

Reader Michael Sweeley writes to follow up on his inexplicable urge to hand out personal information to a phishing email—“Thanks for mentioning my phishing incident in the UD. I did contact EBay, Paypal and of course my Visa folks. Nothing has happened yet but this can be terribly scary stuff—it sounds so doggone legitimate. Of course they all advised me, as you pointed out, NEVER CLICK ON ANYTHING asking for personal information. I wonder how many people you have ‘put on notice’ and, hence, will be saved a lot of agony? Anyhow, thanks. I hope other people pay attention.”

From reader Lance Carle “I enjoy your article in the paper. Today, for the first time I came across your column online—I usually read it in the paper. My son convinced me to

become a Mac user 3 years ago & I still use a PC at work. Please send me your information about satellite installers if that also applies to satellite for TV. Keep up the good work.”

Thanks for them kind words, Lance, and congratulations on making the leap into Macdom. After three years, which do you prefer? About TV satellite installers, I don’t have anywhere near the frightening stories to report about bad installations there. Perhaps because satellite TV has been around much longer than WildBlue it isn’t a problem. However, in keeping up with this thread, if anyone out there has particularly interesting horror stories about their satellite TV installation experience, I’ll be happy to pass the information along.

A note about WildBlue; I’ve been told by the one installation company I use and recommend that WildBlue has been quietly pulling dealerships from some of the folks it hastily handed out agreements to; apparently the fallout from sloppy installations and other horror stories actually got through to the two guys in a kitchen in Colorado who apparently run WildBlue.

I mentioned a link sometime recently—I often can’t remember what I wrote shortly after writing it—at DSLReports that served up a good bit of dish on folks’ WildBlue installation problems. A lot of other providers are also included there, including AT&T, Veirzon, Comcast, and a few you might not know about like Speakeasy and other resellers. Check out the reports at www.dslreports.com.

Last, Mary Bickley wrote looking for information on a WildBlue installer—Mary, I tried to email you but it bounced back. You’ll have to try again and include your phone number.