Share Your Printer on a Home Network

Imagine this. You have a paper due in less than an hour, and you absolutely have to print it before you rush off to school or to the office. You go to your desktop computer, which is the one connected with your home printer, only to find out that someone else – your mom or your wife — is using it to catch up with some long-lost friends overseas. Now you’re stuck in a rut – it would be a bit rude to interrupt her “me” time, after all.

Well, to avoid the possible argument that would come next, a network printer would be quite useful in this type of situation. Network printers are printers that can be shared over multiple computers through the utilization of a network connection such as LAN (Local Area Network) or Wi-Fi.

Imagine the previous scenario once again, this time with a network printer and your laptop computer around the house. All you will have to do is to give your laptop the command to print on your network printer. So while your mother or wife is busy chatting up her best mates online, your document is printing the entire time – less the hassle of an argument!

Of course, you would have to set it up properly first before you can print via a network printer. One thing you have to remember about network printers is that it has a higher chance of operating efficiently if the two computers run with the same operating system. Some printers may have compatibility issues with certain operating systems. Some may not work properly on a Mac, but will run impeccably on a computer with a Windows system, or vice versa.

It is a good idea then to check the printer’s drivers online to get the latest updates about printer compatibility. This may be something that the manufacturers may have already thought of beforehand, but it never hurts to check.