Directory Printer

Recently Frank Murray a long time Good Booter reminded me of a very useful Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 utility. A convenient way to print the content of your folders by simply right clicking on a Windows Explorer folder and then clicking on “Print Directory Listings” on the context menu.

Go to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321379/ and click on the Microsoft Fix it wizard button. The utility will be automatically downloaded and installed to your Window Explorer context menu.

If you’d prefer a more feature filled “free” Directory Printer utility, go to www.karenware.com, Free Programs, Directory Printer.

Karen’s Directory Printer can print the name of every file on a drive, along with the file’s size, date and time of last modification, and attributes. And can sort a list of files by name, size, date created, date last modified, or date of last access.

A Good Boot heads-up:

After installing Windows 7 if you experience a Print Spooler problem (printing takes too much time or you receive an error message) before calling your technician you might try the following.

Note: A Print Spooler is software that stores print jobs temporarily until printer is ready to print it.

Solution 1:
1. Save your work.
2. Restart the computer.

This may restart your spooler.

Or restart your spooler manually by:
1. Logging in as an administrator.
2. Going to Administrative Tools > Services.
3. Right clicking on Print Spooler Service and clicking on Properties.
4. Going to the General Tab and ensuring Automatic is selected.
5. If the service is not running click Start under Service status and click OK.

Solution 2:
1. Go to your Control Panel and “Program and Features”.
2. Go to the applet for Turn Windows Features On/Off
3. Uninstall the Print and Document services.
4. Reboot and add the feature back.

Or if you’re a bit beyond novice: Go to HKey_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler and look for the “reg_value” of “Dependant on Service”. Look for your driver service name and remove it leaving only the default service.

Solution 3:
1. Go to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS
2. Delete everything in this folder.
3. Reboot your system.

A possible solution for Vista and Windows 7
1. Click on Start and type “admin” in the Search box.
2. Click on Administrative Tools
3. Double click Services
4. Right click on Print Spooler
5. Click stop to stop Print Spooler
6. Right click Print Spooler again
7. Click start to restart Print Spooler
8. Restart your computer
9. Try the print job again

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.