Windows Update borks elderly printers in typical Patch Tuesday style (Dot Matrix? Who knew?)

The Register ^ | Nov 17, 2017 | Shaun Nichols

[dayglored]

"Dot Matrix"? Wasn't she a girl I knew in high-school?

[dayglored]

Windows Update Killed My Dot Matrix Printer... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

[ShadowAce]

[sparklite2]

dot matrix printers (which are still a thing, apparently)

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I’ve bought my last non-dot matrix printer. I rarely need a print-out, but when I try, the ink canisters are invariably dried out. So I buy some more, use them once, and they are dried out the next time. This has been the case on every printer I have ever had ... except for dot matrix.

[Nifster]

They are handy when you have multi part documents

[BipolarBob]

Microsoft is like Hillarys Govt. “We’re going to take some things away from you for your own good.”

[smokingfrog]

Bummer, man. You need a dot matrix to print on carbonless paper, but I’m not sure why anyone needs that these days either.

[smokingfrog]

Print something at least once a week whether you need to or not. Or buy a laser printer.

[Dr. Sivana]

Go into any O'Reilly's or Advanced auto parts store, and they will have Okidata dot matrix printers chugging along.

Practical choice, low consumables cost, and VERY hard to counterfeit receipts on high -priced goods.

[apillar]

Dot Matrix printers are still used a lot in areas that require carbon copy forms (legal, real estate etc) because the forms feed well through the punch hole rail guides and the impact will transfer through the carbon copy, unlike ink or laser printers.

[Calvin Locke]

Buy a cheap laser. I rarely print anything any more, save for envelopes, coupons, lists, recipes, copies of receipts, etc., and I don’t remember the last time I bought a cartridge or drum for my Brother Laser.

[Fred Hayek]

[Elderberry]

My kids were "killin' me" using up those color print cartridges. I picked up a used Laser Jet 4 about 20 yrs ago. The kids didn't complain, with it only printing B&W. The toner that came with it lasted until I was printing Little League flyers with it. I never did wear it out, but I replaced it with a HP 1320 that I bought on a county auction. I had to put a "roller repair kit" in it, but its been going strong ever since.

You can't wear out those business class printers, and they are very cheap to pick up used. And parts are readily available.

[smokingfrog]

Good point. I used a dot matrix for many years just to print labels. They just looked better to me. But they finally stopped making the labels I was using.

[wally_bert]

I despise printers to no end.

Printers, Lotus Notes, state fairs, sports, democrats, ethanol based fuel, and big book collections all vie for what I hate most.

[Chode]

cause nobody uses multi-part forms anymore... right???

microsh!t doesn't sell hardware, so why do they have to phouc wi EVERYTHING???

[trebb]

I changed to laser (just black and white) years ago and never looked back.

They are so cheap these days you could literally throw one out when the original toner cartridge is done (5,000 pages or so) and save money compared to a ink jet.....I am on my second toner in 7 years and it will be time to look at a new printer in another 2 years or so....

[zeugma]

What’s your beef with “big book collections”?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

He just had to move one. :}

[zeugma]

He just had to move one. :}

Yup. That would explain it. LOL.

I still have a lot of dead tree books, but for quite a while now, I've bought nothing but ebooks. I've gradually been reducing the dead trees down to just a bare minimum of stuff I don't have electronically. I've got almost 2000 on my ebook reader. Makes moving them a lot easier.