When do you need to update the driver in your HP printer? If you have purchased a new computer or a new printer, it is imperative that you do this. Also, if you have updated the operating system in your computer or any software in your computer, you may need to update the driver too. If your HP unit prints out documents missing characters or documents that are incomplete, you may want to consider updating your driver too. How do you do this, though? Actually, it’s quite simple, and with HP, drivers are easy and free to download.

First, go to HP’s website, specifically the HP Support & Drivers page. Once you get here, select “Download drivers and software,” then enter your product number. Click the “>>” button, and choose your operating system—Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. 

Once you have done that, it’s time to pick your driver. You will either want to choose the basic driver or a bundle with different options or features. HP generally will make the most general and most common driver the first driver listed, making this process a little easier for you.

After you’ve picked your driver, click on the “Download only” option. When you get a message that reads, “Would you like to save this file?” make sure you click the “Save File” option.

You need to then follow the instructions which will help you finish your installation. Once your installation has finished, you will need to restart your computer in order for the installation to take effect.

Let’s say this year, you want to create Christmas cards and somehow incorporate your new baby boy into the card. Sure you could buy a stack of cards from the local card store and then go to the pharmacy and print off multiple copies of your newest photo, but that will end up costing quite a bit when the job is over. Instead, it would much easier—and more affordable—to simply buy cardstock paper and print the cards with photos incorporated into the card. You can send a card with the baby right on the front!  All you have to do is go onto HP Creative Studio pick your design, your card’s size, your font and your message. You can change colors and font size as you wish.

Maybe this year you want to make your grandmother a scrapbook with pictures of your childhood and your children’s childhood. With HP Creative Studio you can pick your favorite scrapbook templates and place pictures or font throughout the page. You can also make a custom photo calendar for your spouse’s desk at work. All you need to do to create one of these is to choose the “custom photo calendars” option in your Creative Studio. Here you can chose the colors, pictures and borders for each and every month of the year. 

You can also print off standard photos to place in a frame or create a cookbook with your favorite recipes to give away using HP Creative Studio and advanced photo paper.  These are only a few suggestions out of the plethora of possibilities you have with HP—with HP printers the holiday printing possibilities are as endless as the joy that they spread.

So what’s the easiest way to save paper?  The best way to do this is to simply print on both sides of each sheet. Many printers even come standard with an automatic duplexer that cuts out the hassle of having to flip the paper over and shove it into another input tray.  Your printer may not have an automatic duplexer, but that doesn’t mean you should cut this cost-effective method out. It might take a couple more steps, but what are a couple more steps when you’re saving a couple of bucks for every ream? If you printed every document on two sides of the paper, you could save at least half of your supply! That means you’ll be buying and needing paper a lot less frequently!

A lot of times, formatting holds the key to saving funds. By switching the line spacing on your documents, you are saving space, and in turn saving paper. For instance, let’s say you have a six page report that’s double spaced. Why not single space the document, making it around three pages instead? Another way to cut down paper usage is to change your margins in your page’s layout. Though this won’t save an abundance of space, a half inch margin instead of an inch margin could keep your one page document from having one line or a few words on a second page.

Though paper is certainly not the most expensive asset to your printer, the costs over time can definitely add up!

On the App printers, HP actually offers a Thanksgiving app that is filled with Thanksgiving ideas and preparations. You don’t even need to turn your computer on to learn about different crafts, cards, activities and decorations created for you by HP.  Invite your guests with Thanksgiving invitations decked out with turkeys and pilgrims, or create paper napkin holders to make the place settings at your dinner look perfect.  A MapQuest app can get you to wherever you may be going for the holidays as well.

One thing you might really love is the HP Recipes app. Here you can browse, print or download recipes directly from coupon.com. You can also find recipes from magazines like Southern Living and Cooking Light. Plus, Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food recipes are at your disposal as well. If you want the perfect feats, these recipes are sure to give you some great cooking tips.

Need to entertain the kids while you cook your dinner? Well HP has you covered there too, you can use HP Creative Studio to print coloring pages, activities and games set in the festive Thanksgiving theme.  Place cards, recipe cards and trivets are a few other examples of the many holiday creations HP puts at your finger tips.  You can even print scrapbook pages to commemorate your holiday festivities, and an Autumn Bounty Thanksgiving Kit will give your home that finishing touch it needs to get the holiday started out right!

Your presents are wrapped, but you need some sort of label for them. HP has got you covered. With gift tags for almost any occasion, you can personalize your Christmas presents, birthday presents or Valentine’s Day present for that special someone. Choosing the “All Occasion Gift Tag” you are given a multitude of label options for anything from baby shower gift tags to bachelorette party tags. There’s even a “Holiday Gift Labels by Disney” option you can add easily.

Your kitchen is filled with homemade tomato sauce, jams, pickles and honey.  Wouldn’t it be great to label those and never have to worry if what you are opening is mild or spicy salsa? With HP labels, it’s not only possible, but it is an easy problem to fix. Not only will it fix confusion, but it will give your jarred products a touch of personality, making great gifts. Using HP Creative Studio, you can choose the option “Food Gift Tags & Labels” and already made templates are ready for you.

Other uses for labels include storage labels for boxes, yard sell price tags or envelope labels with your address and information on them. No matter what kind of labels you are trying to print, HP certainly has an option. If you choose to custom make your own labels, do so with Microsoft Word.

After you choose your design, do a printout of your creation on regular paper to make sure everything lines up correctly. After it prints, make any adjustments you need to based on the printout. Next, load the label printer in the proper direction, and begin printing.

For instance, if you want to make a card, click on the greeting cards option on your Creative Studio. There are many different types available.  Want to make invitations for a holiday party? The studio has Halloween pumpkin invitations, and using glossy brochure or flyer paper only enhances the quality of these print outs.

Thinking about being a pirate, cowboy or princess this Halloween?  If so, the HP party kits have something to offer.  Here you can print out crowns, hats and accessories. Fancy masquerade masks can also be printed. Are you making your own costume this Halloween? Well HP can help with that too. With masks available like a space invader, space alien and space robot, you can have the main component of your Halloween costume quickly and inexpensively. HP iron-on transfers can also help you create a costume.  If you want to be an NFL player, you can print out your favorite emblem and stick it on your costume, adding the essential features to make your costume work.  These tricks work for children and adults alike!

If you’re making jack-o-lanterns, HP even has something to help you out there. HP offers a variety of templates for pumpkin carving. There are traditional faces like most are used to, but also monsters, bugs and ghosts too. If your children are too small for carving, you can always make a Halloween masks for your pumpkin.

Decorations can also be printed by clicking on “Frightful Window Decorations,”“Hair-Raising Lanterns,” “Spooky Streamers,” or “Floating Monsters” options. Each of these are each to print and will add a lot of character to your home.

So what is ePrint exactly? It is a new technology that gives you the ability to print anywhere. How does it work? It works by you emailing documents and photos to your printer through a mobile device. It sounds convenient doesn’t it?

In order to set this up, your printer must be connected to the internet. For most e-Print capable printers, just press the wrench button and then click the “wireless” option. After that click on “enable web services”, and that’s all it takes!  You are officially set up to ePrint.

You need to know the printer’s email address to send emails, click the “web services settings” button and then click on “display email address”.  You can also register your printer on the HP ePrintCenter for added features.

Now that you’re on-the-go, you’re ready to print.  If you’re out and about, all you have to do is send an email from your email-capable phone to the printer using the printer’s email address. Microsoft Word documents, images, Excel documents, PDFs, photos and PowerPoint documents can all be printed at the touch of a button. If you are worried your email isn’t supported, you shouldn’t—ePrint works fine with Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Apple Mail, AOL Mail, Nokia Mail and BlackBerry Mail.

If you think sending is easy, you haven’t seen anything yet, because receiving is even easier. You literally don’t have to do anything except take the finished product out of the printer. If you send a print job to your printer, it prints! There’s nothing complicated about this new, convenient technology.

What can HP wireless printing do for you?  Well first of all, it makes clutter a thing of the past. It can eliminate all those annoying printer cables taking up room on your desk.  Let’s say you live in a small studio apartment or dorm room, you may or may not have a desk, and if you do, chances are that it’s pretty small.  Having a printer might seem just like added clutter, but wireless printing hardly takes up much room, with many printers being only a few inches large. You could sit it on your dresser or in a cabinet and not even worry about it until it’s time to use.

A lot of people these days are walking around with laptops.  Imagine being able to do your homework and print it while laying outside your favorite place on your college campus or printing your bank statements while sitting on your front porch during the fall. It might sound too good to be true, but it isn’t with HP wireless printing. If you had all those cords, you certainly couldn’t do this.

Phones are always getting fancier, and a lot of HP printers are compatible.  What does this mean?  Well with many of these printers you can print directly from your PDA or cell phone without a wire or being connected to a computer! With the touch of one button, you can print directly from your iPod too!  Wireless printers are simple to use and require hardly any set up.

To begin, choose the artwork you would like to use. Print a preview next so you know exactly what the image should look like.  If you don’t like the sample image, you can go back in and adjust until you do like the outcome. Make sure you remember that the images must be backwards of how you want them to actually end up because of how the image turns out.

When all these things have been done, you can print your iron-on transfer.  After that, cut the design out carefully. It is best to leave a ¼ inch border.  Put your iron on the hottest setting, which is sometimes called “cotton” setting.  Run the test garment, and if it is possible to use the same fabric, do that.

Instead of using an ironing board while doing the transfer, consider using a lower surface.  You are going to need to apply a ton of pressure to the iron, so this will make that a lot easier to do.

If the test garment turns out fine, then it’s time to print the real thing. Iron the final design onto the garment.  After it has been ironed, remove the backing of the paper from the iron-on transfer.

Make sure when creating these fabric documents that you use the right kind of printer.  Laser printers cannot create iron-on transfers.  Also load media correctly and chose the right fabric!

 First, make sure you buy an HP printer that offers what you need and is dependable.  You don’t want to find yourself buying a new unit from HP a year down the road, so remember to look into printers before you buy them.  Also, know you want so you can get just that.

Another way to save money if printing color documents or images is to buy a printer that uses individual tanks of ink for each color instead of buying a printer that only uses two cartridges—generally black or tricolor cartridges. The HP tricolor tanks usually contain cyan, magenta and yellow printer ink.  In these 2 tank ink systems, generally when one of the colors runs out, the entire cartridge needs to be replaced. Meaning, if you run out of cyan but are full of yellow and magenta, you are still going to need to replace the entire cartridge. If you have a printer that uses 4 tanks or more, though, this is never an issue.  When one color runs out, only that color needs replaced.

Two other options are buying your ink in bulk or buying high capacity versions of ink from HP.  Though both of these suggestions will cost much more upfront, they will save users a lot of money in the long run.

 The easiest way to save money and print affordably is to buy remanufactured HP ink tanks from third party vendors, instead of buying OEM ink straight from the manufacturer. These tanks, though they only cost a fraction of the price, still offer high quality comparable of the HP inks.

Printing using HP units can be expensive or inexpensive, but the choice for high or low cost printing starts in one place—the buyer’s hands.