Re: Blue Screen (of death) and HP printers. I have an HP Photosmart 3210 XI All-In-One and it has a glitch with one application. It works with everything else I have. An updated driver did not help, and my queriers were ignored by both HP and MicroSoft. I have discovered a work-a-around. The Problem: Windows XP Office 2000 - buried within Office 2000 is a scaled down version of MicroSoft Photo Editor. The features that it has works very well. If I bring an image into the photo editor and attempt to print it, XP complains of an illegal operation and shuts down the photo editor. The Work-a-Around: After the computer has booted and before attempting to print an image from the photo editor, re-install the printer, or install it as another printer and delete the original install. This can be before starting the photo editor or after an image has been loaded into it. To install: Go to the "control Panel", click, or double click depending on how your computer is set up, on hte "add printer" icon. Follow the instructions in the connection wizard making sure that you choose the port that your printer is connected to. After "finish" of the install, a new printer icon will appear in the printers windows and the newly installed printer will have a check mark indicating it s the default printer. Right click on the old printer icon and delete it. (You probably don't need to uninstall the unused printer connection. I do it to conserve resources.) Close the windows and you are ready to print until the computer is rebooted again. As a bonus, the intall-printer untiltiy will remember all your replies except for the connection port making it short work to reinstall the next time. Strangely enough, this is the only application I have that exhibits this problem. All others work fine including an ancient version of NetScape.

Sorry - I'm a regular forum member - just thought I'd share that bit of news, since I had no response from my original help request. I didn't do a search to find my original message, but I can understand why you thought I was commercial. Not this time. Bejay

So why not ignore the parts of your current printer you do not need and use the rest? There is not much of a market for used printers, unless you already have a buyer of course. Buying another while you have a useable one seems odd. Watch for sales, just a couple of weeks ago there were some Canons on sale for under $40. No idea where now but it was a great deal at the time and with the depressed economy bargains will pop up occasionally. There are 83 here, all between $50 and $100. Notice the 'Reviews'? click on any row of stars to read the reports of actual users to aid your search. I personally like HP or Canon. In a thread a few weeks ago a couple of users spoke highly of recent Lexmarks so perhaps they have smartened up somwhat.

Class action suits are a unfortunately a necessary evil. When defined and certified they encompass all except those who chose to opt out, and those of us who remain have no responsibility. How else would you address a legal concern which spans the country? Mona, You can opt out, hire your own counsel, and pursue any claim you wish. Further, no one is accusing anyone of lying. The civil legal system is a confrontational one which in the end the trier of facts, be it judge or jury, having heard the case of each side makes a decision based solely on the evidence presented. The original plaintiffs will reap the rewards followed by the attorneys who in general get 1/3 plus costs. Those of us in the defined class normally get token relief. In this matter it appears it was settled before trial in which HP admitted no wrong doing, but on their own created a pool of relief to be distributed in a defined fashion. The plaintiffs in this case agreed to the offer and following the date of closer the entire matter will be submitted to the presiding judge for his review, certification and order of settlement. K9, Since I didn't know anything about this litigation so I didn't participate. I guess anything I recover is a plus. HB, I have personally been involved as a defined party in maybe a half a dozen class action law suits of which I had no knowledge until I was notified that I was in the effected class, and the matter had reached a settlement. Most were from products I had registered with the manufacturer and one was a credit card company. In the credit card case I received 12 cents as it had to do with the way the CC company used the exchange rate of the American versus Canadian dollar. I don't shop in Canada often. I have one CA pending where I am to receive $25.00. I have another one pending where I will be receiving $175.00. I did have a CA suit that I was knowingly a participant that settled. It provided me with what amounted to $3007.00 a year for life besides other residual financial benefits. In all cases I could have opted out, and legally proceeded on my own. DA