Here is an under-used feature in Windows XP: Printer Server Properties. I use this tool frequently to remove printer drivers that just won’t go away. Often times you will disconnect a printer, uninstall the software and/or drivers, and plug the printer back in only to find that instead of prompting you for the drivers you recently downloaded, the system just loads the old driver. Getting rid of these “stored” drivers is quite simple.Step 1: Remove the printer
Disconnect your printer and then uninstall the accompanying software and driver. Once this has been completed, make sure that the printer is no longer present in the Printers & Faxes folder.
Step 2: Remove the driver
Open the control panel and go into the Printer & Faxes folder. Click on File and then select Server Properties. From here, select the Drivers tab, click on the printer / driver in question and then click on Remove. You can also click on Properties to see the actual driver and support files for the particular printer driver.
A lot of users ask me to disable the system tray notifications that they get when sending jobs to a network printer. This was introduced with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and basically just alerts the end user that the network printer received the job and hopefully started printing it. To rid your users of these notifications perform the following:
Step 1: Disable the notifications
Within Printers & Faxes, go to File and then select Server Properties. Select the advanced tab and uncheck the option “Show informational notifications for network printers”. Hit OK and you are done.
–himuraken
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