TIPS & TRICKS: Adding a Networked Printer on OS X Lion

Apple recommends adding a networked printer, which is visible via Bonjour. The default installation of Lion does not have very many printer drivers pre-installed. I went to the printer manufacturer's site and found that I should be able to get the driver through Software Updates on OS X, though this only works either on USB or on a printer available via Bonjour. What can you do if the printer is networked, but not available via Bonjour? 

I was trying to add a networked printer manually using LPD protocol and discovered that the driver for the printer was not available in "Select Printer Software" under "Print Using." Finally found that Apple has a bunch of drivers for various printer manufacturers available for download from the Apple Support site:

http://support.apple.com/downloads/#printer drivers

Installing drivers from here, should make them available in the Printer Software box. 

TIPS & TRICKS: Internet Explorer 9 Compatibility

I knew previously that Internet Explorer 9 had a built-in compatibility mode. Even so, there were some sites that just didn't work on IE9. Just figured out there's another way to control how IE9 behaves. There is a developer tool built-in that allow IE9 to emulate specific previous versions:

- With IE9 open, Hit F12
- Click on Browser Mode: IE9 at the bottom of the window
- Select the version that might work for you

Simple. There will probably still be sites that don't quite work, but having options is helpful.

TIPS & TRICKS: "Randomly" Waking Windows 7 Computer

Awhile back, I noticed my workstation was waking up in the middle of the night. After checking the system logs, I found that there was a Google update service that woke the computer up. I fixed that one. To my surprise, I found my computer on again at 1:41am. Another piece of update software woke up the machine. This useful command helped to confirm my findings in the log:

powercfg -lastwake


Just need to make sure to run it from a command prompt as and administrator:


- Click Start
- Type cmd in the Search programs and files box
- right click cmd under Programs and select "Run as Administrator"


If this line is included in the results after the powercfg -lastwake command is issued:


Windows will execute 'MicrosoftWindowsMedia Centermcupdate_scheduled' scheduled task that requested waking the computer.


Then, here's the fix:


- Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler
- Expand Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Media Center
- Find mcupdate_scheduled (note: make sure to find this one because there's another one called just mcupdate)
- Right click on mcupdate_scheduled and select "Properties".
- Select the Conditions tab
- Uncheck "wake the computer to run this task"

- Hit OK to exit.

Just did this to my workstation and will see if it works. Credit goes to this site:

http://www.beirtech.com/blogs.php?action=view&bid=6