I've owned like 5 different printers for my computer over the last several years. Whether I use it every day, or once a month, periodically I have to reinstall the drivers for it because they just disappear and the computer does not recognize the device. This has happened many, many, times over the years and on several different computers. In researching this issue online, it seems that a lot of people experience this type of problem.
You'd think that this particular piece of technology would not have such simple issues anymore.
Have you seen where your printers are made? There is a massive factory in china somewhere which makes computer printers. The photo was unreal, you cant see the other end of the factory.
They are bound to make some cock ups. Maybe many many many cock ups, most electronics are pretty trashy today because they are made for cheap in a chinese sweat shop.
really ? 'cause i have to forcibly turn off (via msconfig) hp's drivers so that they stop annoying the hell out of me ... those guys are really abusive with all the crap they install along with their drivers
Its actually straight forward to install a driver without all the bundled printer management software and other extras for most printers.
Avoid using the install CD. Generally speaking- download the driver (only) package, extract it, then just add the resultant driver .inf file from print server properties.
If you really have "turned off" your printer driver, I can't see you getting much use from your printer... ;-)
I have a Canon 4 in 1 printer I bought a couple of years ago. It was completely plug and play on my win 7 pro. No disk needed.
edit: It was under $75 USD.
you're right ... however at the time i needed the scanning software as well so ended up installing all the crap along with it ... no worries but still an abusive policy by hp
tbh i don't get much use from my printer ( i only use it when i need something urgent outside normal working hours otherwise its much cheaper to use the print shop i have across the road ) but when i do i "turn them back on" and it works , unlike the OP's complaints
Never had a problem here
[:tired:]