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 GENERAL HOW TOs         
 
Resolving common computer issues that involve online email, videos, web games, and other active content.

 
At Native Texan PC we want to encourage and empower you as much as possible. These "How To" pages are the results of self-help files created for clients over the years. Of the issues presented here, some are very common, others are not and therefore the obscure more technical findings presented are as a service to the tech community in general.   This is an ongoing project, files will be added every 1-3 days, as time permits.
 
 

How To Clear the Print Spool in Windows XP

 

This is a SUPER-common prob and very easy to rectify. If you've sent a print job to your printer and you know it should be printing but it's not. Check your lower right hand corner of the screen--Is the printer icon there an showing? (This area is called the System Tray--or Systray.)

 

If your printer icon is active, yet nothing is printing at all, and you've checked the paper, and made sure it's not clogged and rebooting does nothing to resolve the issue. Then you've probably got print jobs stuck in que. That means they're qued up and ready to print off, but something is interfering with the process. (Could be the printer settings are off, this is common on a network if your shared printer is NOT set up properly to begin with. If it prints OK sometimes, but doesn't at other times, you have issues that need to be resolved.)

 

Often this is as simple as clearing your print que, then you can print again--just don't rush your printer.


(NOTE: You'll want to be sure that no one in your office will be trying to use the clogged printer while you perform this procedure. This takes 5-10 mins tops.)

 

 

  1. Go to Start & right click on My Computer, choose "Manage"
  2.  
    Look down along the left panel towards the bottom and click on "Services & Applications".
  3. Click on "Services" to open it on the wide right side panel.
  4. Look down the list in the right panel and find "Print Spooler".
  5. Click once to highlight this item. Look up towards the upper left of this panel and see
    the "Start/Stop" button as a blue link. (If you don't see this then you need to click on the tab at the bottom or you can right click the "Print Spooler" and choose "Stop". You'll have to wait and give it time to stop the processes (about 2 mins). This will cut off all printers from this computer.
  6. Now, minimize this window (so you can come back to it afterwards). Hit the Windows key + E (Windows + E). This will open Windows Explorer.
  7. Scroll down and find the "System32" folder in the left explorer column. (Be very careful here, it's touchy stuff.)
  8. Find the "spool" folder within the system32 folder. Inside that "spool" folder is another folder called "Printers". THIS is the folder you want.
  9. Open it and select all, then delete.
  10. Now close Windows Explorer and go back to the Computer Management consul and "Start" the Printer Spool again.

Wait for it to fully start and you're good to go!!! :)

 



                                                                     

                                                               

                                                                         

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