Replies

Fred –

I’ve enjoyed reading your Windows Maintenance Challenge series. I’ve had experience since the early 1980’s managing and using personal computers, both professionally and privately. I’ve always been suspicious of the claims of third-party maintenance software tools, especially since I ran an early one some years ago that told me I had all kinds of “problems” (hundreds) on one of my XP systems that needed to be “fixed”, and I knew that most of the items on the list it presented were not the least problematic. When the first PC Matic commercials started appearing, I told my wife that I was extremely skeptical.

When in Part 2 you didn’t say anything at all about the 3 security issues reported by System Mechanic, I assume it was because those also had “no additional details offered”, just like the 10 “core data conflicts”.

I kind of wish you had run the PC Matic repair tool to see if it might possibly have garbaged up your system, unless you were concerned it might have gone beyond what you could restore from your clean System Image.

In any case, you’ve pretty well confirmed that my gut instincts about these tools were largely correct.

Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! And, actually, Small Icons mode had somehow gotten selected (probably from some fast clicking that I didn’t realize caused it). I’m an idiot for not checking that — I should know better — been at this a LONG time — maybe TOO long . . .

Thank you so much, KritzX, for saving me!

mrjimphelps —

Well, I tried the Vista 64-bit driver files using different Vista Compatibility Mode options w/ and w/o “Administrator”, and I also tried the driver(s) for 64-bit XP (and used Compatibility Mode & Administrator combinations). The results were always the same — the installation would start but never find the printer!

I may try connecting the printer directly to my Windows 7 PC and see if I can get the Vista files to find it . . .

Thanks.

Super! I was starting to wonder if Vista 64 might be worth a try. Thanks, mrjimphelps.

mrjimphelps, I’m having trouble finding “compatible printers listed” that you mentioned. Perhaps I’m not looking on the HP site in the right way. Could you provide some clarification?

Excellent idea, mrjimphelps. Thanks!

Thanks, Joe.

So I’m basically out of luck . . .

Maybe someone here who has come up with workarounds will see this thread.

Thank you for your reply, SpywareDr. I reviewed the issues addressed in the Update rollup link, but none of them seem to apply to my situation. I can print okay from Windows 7, but when I go into Printer Preferences to select specific features I’ve used under XP, some of them are not available. I believe the Universal PCL 6 driver provided by HP for 64-bit Windows 7 does not include them, and that’s the only type they provide (along with PCL 5 and PostScript — all “Universal”).

My thanks to all who responded so quickly!