A lot of people are unnecessarily wasting money every time they print something. If you have an inkjet printer (which is the most popular type of home printer) you probably can print in either color or black and white.

By default, most printers are set to print in color at the medium quality level. What that means is if you’re viewing a website (using Firefox, of course) and click the print button the printer will by default shoot out the page in color. I don’t know about you, but I can read maps and emails just fine in either color or black and white.

To change the default setting for your printer, click on Start > Control Panel. Double-click “Printers and Faxes” and look for the printer you use. Right-click on the printer and click properties. Each pinter is a little different from here, but it will be something like preferences or options that will allow you choose the default print quality (I suggest putting it at the lowest setting) and color (set it to black and white or gray-scale).

If you’re not happy with the settings after a few printouts, feel free to change the settings. You can also choose these same setting every time you print. Again, it’s a little different for each printer, but if you click on the File menu then Print, you should be able to access the quality and color settings for each individual print job. That way if you’re printing out some pictures or anything you need in color you can get it the way you want.

Bottom line, set the defaults to how you normally like things to print. If you mainly print pictures you’ll want the quality to be higher and in color. But if you’re like me and use your printer for general, everyday printing you don’t need it to look its best.

If you have a tech tip you’d like to share or a tech question please comment.