If you have a laptop computer and you join a new network (usually a wireless one) it would be nice to be able to immediately use any of the printers on that network. In theory, you can. In practice, you usually have to ‘set up the printer’ by means of a series of tedious steps. At least this is true in the world of Microsoft Windows.
In the world of Apple computers you can usually use a special protocol which Apple calls ‘Bonjour’ (it used to be called ‘Rendevous’ until Apple lost a trademark battle). This protocol allows you to simply ask your computer to look for available printers and then pick from the ones that your computer can ‘see.’ For your computer to ‘see’ the printer it also has to recognize the Bonjour protocol Most HP printers are able to do this, as are the recent ones made by Canon, Brother, Lexmark, and Xerox.
So what about if you have a Windows computer? Well, since Apple makes Bonjour available for Windows too, you can install this little utility and quickly configure your computer to use a new printer that uses the Bonjour technology. I did this the other day in my house for my daughter and it was amazing how quickly the printer set up occured. If I were a Windows user, I’d download this utility now. You’ll never know when you’ll need to use it. And when you do use it you’ll be quite amazed.
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