5 Common Mistakes People Make in Choosing Printers

 5 Common Mistakes People Make in Choosing Printers

During the past fifteen years, I have operated on-demand printing presses and large color electrostatic printers. I have seen a wide range of print jobs from clients that had well prepared files to clients that needed a little help to make their files print ready.

In this article I will not talk about client files instead I will focus on how people often choose their print shops.

The five most common mistakes I found people make with their print shops are:

1. People pick a printer based only on price.
You really do get only what you pay for.

Good printers cost more because they give you added value. They give you file pre-flight, consistent output, they have better quality control, they check proofs against final pages, they usually have more skillful workers and more.

2. People think all printers are the same.
Print shops use different equipment, they have different people running the equipment, they use different materials and they have different levels of expertise.

Good print shops use the same suppliers, they stock the paper they prefer to use, and they train their operators.

3. People think that all a printer needs is to have the right equipment.
If a printer has good equipment but is inexperienced in running the equipment, the output quality can’t be consistent. It could even be bad.

Guess what, equipment from the same manufacturer can produce different output.

I worked at a company that had two same model Heidelberg presses. We ran into a problem matching color on a prior print job.

We discovered the two printers produced colors slightly different. The printers were calibrated, the room environment was the same, the materials were the same and the operator was the same. We discovered like people printers have their own personality.

Our solution was to note which device a job was run on and if the client ran the same job later we ran that new job on the same device. The color matched and everyone was happy. An inexperienced shop might never have figured out the problem on-time, passing on a bad print job and losing the client.

4. People always shop around for three or more bids on a job.
If a good printer bids on jobs that he never gets, he will stop bidding or bid really high.

If you have a tight deadline, being loyal to a print shop can sometimes be the difference between getting the job done and missing a deadline.

5. People don’t give the print shop enough time.
The printing process takes time. To do the job right you can’t cut corners.

If the materials are present and the press is free it still takes a fixed amount of time to print the job and a fixed amount of time to finish the job.

If you do try to rush the process, quality will suffer.

Think of Cliff Ping as your graphics specialist. Based in Miami, I offer services in Web Site Design, PowerPoint slide creation, Photoshop photo retouching, desktop production and computer software training in Adobe and Microsoft products.

Under promise over deliver, get Cliff when you need help.
Contact Cliff at cliff@cliffping.com     web site: cliffping.com

Free Software to Keep the Computer Running Stable

Free Software to Keep Your Computer Happy

I do a lot of work with individuals and small businesses that can’t afford to have an IT staff.

Most of these users are not computer savvy. To them the computer is a tool that they push a button to turn-on and when it doesn’t work they call me.

Most of my clients use their computer to do e-mail, write word documents, use excel for spreadsheets, and browse the internet. Some of my clients use the computer to make marketing materials.

They like all of us want a computer to be dependable, work for us without crashing, and run fast.

Having worked with micro computers for 30 years (from building computers-to writing software code- to networking pcs-to using software-to teaching how-to use software), I have learned a lot about software and hardware and how to keep the computer humming. Yes, I am a user-friendly computer geek.

To keep my clients and my computers humming, I use these four (4) free programs. Don’t be fooled by the price tag of being free these program are very good.

1. CC Cleaner - this removes the clutter.
It has two options that I use.
Option 1 - removes temporary files, erases browser history and erases unwanted Microsoft and Adobe application history. The erasing of the history makes the browser faster and the computer faster. I use this option every week.

Option 2 - cleans-up the Windows registry. I run this option about once a month. The registry is the computers directory of contents for all the software on the hard drive. Running this option keeps the registry clean.

2. Spybot Search and Destroy - antispyware.
I have been using this software for years to root out those pesky malware, adware, and other bad guys. I run this software about once a month. The virus protection software keeps the computer free of this but just in case something slips by the virus protection software I have a backup to keep the computer clean.

3. SmartDefrag to organize the hard drive.
As files are created, then deleted, then more files created gaps are created on the hard drive. When new files are saved, they fill-in those gaps. Unfortunately the files being saved are being scattered around the hard drive. The more the files are scattered the bigger hit you take on drive performance.

SmartDefrag puts the files back in order thus increasing drive performance. I run this software about once every three months.

4. I use the AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition software for Virus Protection.

I would remind folks that anti-virus software needs to have daily Web access for updates. The application might not have an update every day but it is good to let the software check-in.

Where to Get the Software:

To get a copy of any of these applications go to the computer tech site cnet.com. Their direct software site is download.com.

Think of Cliff Ping as your graphics specialist. Based in Miami, I offer services in Web Site Design, PowerPoint slide creation, Photoshop photo retouching, desktop production and computer software training in Adobe and Microsoft products.


Under promise over deliver, get Cliff when you need help.
Contact Cliff at cliff@cliffping.com     web site: cliffping.com