The first most important thing which you require for printing is a printing device. A printing device called as printer comes in hundreds of models and there are many companies which are into manufacturing of printers. There are three types of printers primarily used in homes or in offices. These are Inkjet printers, Laser printers and All-in –one printers. The inkjet printers are less expensive and are capable of printing color documents as well. Running cost of inkjet printers is slightly high because of regular cartridge change. The Monochrome laser printers are little expensive and the coloured Laser printers are very expensive. The running cost of Laser printers is quite low because the ink called as toner is cheap and it prints far more copies in one fill. The other category of printers available is the All-In-One printers commonly known as AIO and they are nothing but several devices bundled in one. An AIO consists of a printer, a scammer, a photo copy machine and a fax machine in one single device which intelligently connects with your printer for functioning. Choice of printer solely depends upon you and the kind of printing you want to do. Printing on Inkjet printers is slow but is very high on Laser and AIOs.
Once you have the printer with you, you need to install it or connect it with your Windows 7 computer so that it can do the printing for you. All the printers available now come with a CD of driver and Software and this needs to be installed so that you can use your printer. Driver is software which works in between your computer and printer. It interprets the instructions so that it can be understood by the printer. Every printer also has an installation guide which explains the installation steps but the most general steps for installation is to execute the CD and just follow the instructions. A new printer should only be connected to the computer when asked by the installation program. A printer can be wired, wireless, or situated at a remote location on your network. Installing a wired printer (also called as local printer) is very simple as it required direct cable connection for printer detection and installation. Installing a wireless printer requires some knowledge of the network and you should know the details of your wireless network (details like SSID and security key). Using a printer installed on a network again has to scenarios. First is that the printer is connected directly to any of the computers on the network (shared printer) and, second is if the printer is connected directly to the router (network printer).
If you have to print from a shared printer then make sure that you are able to access the computer to which it is connected. This also requires that the computer sharing the printer stays ON all the times. If you want to connect to any network printer then make sure that your computer is able to communicate to the printer and there is no network security or policy preventing you to do so.
Installation of all the three kinds can be done through the same window in Windows 7. Open the Start menu and type Printers and open Printers when listed. Click on Add a Printer and follow the instructions. Once the printer gets installed you can use it from any application which supports printing by going to its File menu and Print option. In the Print Window you will find your printer which you need to select and then click on Print
