Printer spooler not working... again
November 13, 2013 10:12 AM   Subscribe

My Dad has an old (5+ years) PC running Windows Vista, and a laser printer. Over the last few months, he's started to have problems printing pdfs. Help me fix the problem, please!

The scenario is, he receives a document as a pdf attachment to an email, he opens it and tries to print it, and the printer spooler stops working. It's not happening with every pdf he gets sent, but it's happening quite regularly.

I've figured out a fix which involves re-starting the printer spooler, clearing the printer documents cache and re-installing the default printer. This is not hard to do, but it's slightly beyond my 72 year old Dad, and I know he's frustrated at having to rely on me every time it happens. I've spent ages googling this and can't figure out what the underlying problem is.

I don't believe there's anything wrong with the printer hardware. My suspicion is that it may be a conflict between Dad's old Vista OS and pdfs generated in newer operating systems. But if some tech savvy Mefite happens to know a solution, I'd be delighted.
posted by meronym to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)
 
how about saving it first?
posted by raildr at 10:16 AM on November 13, 2013


Best answer: The pdf is more likely to clash with his pdf reader than his OS. Does he have the latest version of adobe reader? Maybe he should switch to a different pdf reader such as foxit or nitro (both free). http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/
http://www.nitroreader.com/
posted by Obscure Reference at 11:20 AM on November 13, 2013


What brand is the printer? Do other Vista PCs use the printer?
posted by soelo at 1:32 PM on November 13, 2013


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