Vista has many technical problems that Microsoft's $300-million marketing splurge ain't gonna solve. I solved one of it irritating hassles for nearly free. And I didn't have to hire a comedian to do it for me.
(Around here, we have two networked printers serving about eight computers: a color inkjet connected directly to the network, and a monochrome laser printer connected indirectly through a host computer. Printing from a Vista computer to the laser printer takes ages, something like a minute for the Print dialog box to appear and then for the page to land in the output tray.)
Frustrated with the amount of time (= money) Vista was costing me, I realized I could look up a second USB cable:
- One USB cable runs from the host computer (running Windows 2000) to the laser printer for everyone on the network to use.
- A second USB cable runs from my Vista notebook computer, but is not connected to the laser printer. (I use a twist-tie to keep the two cables close together at the laser printer's USB port.)
Upon the rare occasion I need to print from the Vista-disabled computer, I unplug one USB cable and plug in the other at the laser printer. The HP LaserJet is ignorant of the change in computers, and happily prints.
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