Connecting your productivity: The beginner’s guide to networking
Hello, CopyLady Friends and Family! I’m back with yet another fun little informational post. Networking: The process of connecting two or more systems together for the purpose of sharing information between each system, either by a cable, or through wireless signals. Having a properly built and configured network is paramount to the operation of virtually every industry, from manufacturing, to education, and down to financial! Today, I will give you a rundown on the ins and outs of networking, so you can have a better understanding of how your devices “talk” to one another, and how you can make these “conversations” flow smoothly for the best productivity! Let’s start with the hardware itself: Cabling: While there have been many forms of network cabling over the years (such as coax, Ethernet, and Token Ring), The standard that we have today, and is the most prevalent, is Ethernet. Ethernet cables will resemble
Wifi woes killing your productivity? Find out why here! (And learn more about Wifi!)
Good Day CopyLady family! It’s me again, the crazy yet awesome help desk geek, here to serve up even more helpful knowledge to keep your business running! Wireless networking, or WiFi (Short for Wireless Fidelity, kinda like Hi-Fi was for stereos): Networking technology that no one can do without in this day and age. You can’t go anywhere and not find WiFi (Well, you COULD visit the town of Green Bank, WV, where Wi-Fi (and any other sort of wireless signaling) is illegal due to the radiotelescope that’s housed there!). Some of you out there may think that WiFi is a recent innovation, but…….it is not! In 1991, NCR and AT&T invented the predecessor to today’s Wi-Fi standards, known as WaveLAN. Testing on wireless networking was conducted as far back as 1989 even! The first commercial implementation of what is known as IEEE 802.11 was created in 1997, and just
This one simple trick will keep your copier humming along!
Hello there CopyLady family! I want to touch on something here that we hear about often: Your machine telling you that the waste toner is almost full. What’s a waste toner? What IS waste toner? Waste toner is the extra bits of toner that don’t transfer to the paper during a print or copy job. The machine cleans this toner off of the drums and transfer belt, and stores this excess in a separate container in your machine. When this bottle gets full, You simply take it out, dispose of it, and install a new one. Why does the copier just waste toner? Don’t worry! The copier isn’t intentionally wasting your toner. This is just bits of toner that did not adhere to the paper during the print process. The toner delivery system operates one way only, so there’s no real useful way for the copier to put the extra
Why is my copier doing weird things when I try to print? The answer may surprise you!
Copiers and printers are great and all, but there’s one major job that we need them to do, and do right: Converting electronic documents on your PC into physical paper versions! Thing of it is, you can’t just plop a printer onto your network and expect your PC to know how to work with it properly. For this, we need software, in the form of what is known as print drivers. Print Drivers? What are those? Print drivers are software programs that help instruct your PC on how to properly function with your printer. Your Operating System (OS) has a driver for everything your PC has, Without drivers, your PC would be virtually useless. Most things your PC has (sound, ethernet, mouse, etc), use what is known as a default system driver. For these, this is fine. Other things however, have to have a specific driver to work properly. These
Jam, Jam, everywhere a jam! Why is your printer suddenly wreaking havoc on your productivity?
Hello there, CopyLady Family! So, it’s a wonderful day at the office, and you need to print out some documents. You load up everything you need to print out, then press PRINT……..Your machine springs into action, preparing to bring your most cherished files into physical existence. It’s ready, time to start printing! The printer prints 1 page………..2 pages……..3 pages……..then….. CLUNK! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! ……What just happened?! The copier just jammed! So, you do what the screen on your machine says to do to clear the jam and resume operation, then it goes back to printing, then……… CLUNK! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! WHY is this thing jamming?! I better give CopyLady a call right now! Someone needs to come fix this! BUT WAIT………..Before you do that, let’s check a few things first! While it is a good idea to call us if you’re having repeated jamming issues, the
Does your copier seem to dislike scanning a certain document? Read me to find out why, and how to fix it!
Hello CopyLady Family! So, you’re processing some paperwork, and need to scan in, or make a copy of a particular document, so you just kinda lump it in with the rest of the paperwork, and all is going along well until it hits THAT document, then the machine shuts down telling you that it “cannot scan this document”. What……….WHY?? First, what are you scanning? Could it be what is known as a “Restricted Document”? WHAT IS A RESTRICTED DOCUMENT? A restricted document is a document that contains a security feature (hologram, watermark, etc) that is meant to prevent counterfeitting. Examples of restricted documents include, but are not limited to: CurrencyChecksBirth CertificatesDrivers Licenses/ID CardsSome government documentsPassports The reason your copier will refuse to let you scan these is an entirely legal one: The US Government requires all scanning devices sold in the US to have technology to prevent counterfeitting. Some machines
