Q. I print from my iPad to an HP wi-fi printer, which has its own open hotspot. (My home network is secured.) How may I add a password to the printer's hotspot?

A. This situation applies to many wi-fi printers. Not only could someone use your printer for their own printing jobs - not really useful since they'd have to collect them from the printer unless they want just to annoy you! - with even limited technical knowledge they could intercept documents sent for printing, and access those stored in the printer's memory, though HP have closed this latter loophole in the latest versions of the printer's firmware. So, the first thing to do is download the most recent version of the firmware from the manufacturer's website and install it, and to check regularly for updates. It is not possible to add a password to HP's printer wi-fi hotspots so turn the hotspot off when not using it. For really sensitive documents, transfer them to a USB stick and print directly from that assuming that the printer accepts USB sticks.

Q. Printing from Windows Live Mail to my HP printer produces very large fonts, unlike when I print them from Outlook Express.How can I reduce the font size?

A. Outlook Express is an independent PC program, whereas Windows Live Mail is a website service and, as such, the printing process for the latter is controlled by your browser and not the website. Windows Live Mail does have a quick print facility though. Open a message and click on the three dots at the top of the screen, then select Print from the dropdown menu. This will produce a "clean" version of the e-mail without advertisements, etc., and open a Print dialog box. If you still want to print exactly what is on the screen, using Internet Explorer, click on the arrow next to the printer icon top right of the browser window and select Print Preview. Then click on Shrink To Fit, which will present a range of options for making the e-mail fit onto the paper. Firefox is similar: click on File, then Print Preview, then Shrink to Fit. Chrome does not provide an easy print option, but you can click on the three bars top right, open Settings then click on Show Advanced Settings and scroll down to Web Content, where it is possible to adjust inter alia font sizes.

Q. Text printed by my printer doesn't look very crisp. Is there anything that I can do about it?

A. Printers vary widely in text quality. Inkjets generally offer text suitable for home, school, or casual business use, while most lasers are capable of printing crisp text for more professional-looking documents. Assuming you've noticed a gradual or sudden degradation in quality, there are several things you can try that may resolve it. Whether inkjet or laser, make sure your print settings are correct. If you're in draft mode, switch to higher quality mode (though it will slow down your printing). Be sure that the paper type listed on screen matches what you're printing on. With laser printers, it may mean that the toner has settled; remove the cartridge(s) and shake several times from side to side. Often, a cartridge will respond to this, though eventually it will run out of toner and have to be replaced. For inkjets, you can try a nozzle cleaning and print head alignment, which you can launch from the printer's maintenance menu. If that doesn't help, you can try replacing cartridges as well (though you'd probably get a warning if they were low).

Q. My printer's too slow. Is it possible to speed it up?

A. Some printers are sprinters and some are marathon runners. There isn't much that one can do about this, but you may be able to get a slow printer to speed up a bit. Unless you need high-quality output for a formal report or similar, print in draft mode (or whatever the lowest-quality setting is). Avoid duplex (two-sided) printing, as the printer has to flip the document over to print on both sides, which can significantly slow it down. If you can choose between printer drivers, print from a host-based or PCL driver; although PostScript drivers can print photos at higher quality, it may come at the expense of speed.

Q. My printer claims it's running out of ink, but I still can print. Should I?

A. You needn't rush to replace cartridges if you get a low-ink warning. Nearly all recent printers have some sort of ink tank level indicator, and will issue warnings when your ink is low. However, the accuracy of these warnings varies widely between manufacturers and models. Sometimes you'll get low-ink warnings well before the ink level is critically low. The only way to determine if this is the case is by continuing to print beyond the warning, and seeing how long it takes until output quality starts to degrade, or the printer stops printing, forcing you to replace one or more cartridges. Then you'll know if the warnings are timely, or premature, and have a better idea of how long to wait until you really need to replace that ink cartridge. If you're starting a large and important print job, though, you may want to err on the side of caution and change the relevant ink tank(s) anyway.

Q. Having read an e-mail in GMail, is there a way of printing it without all the adverts and other page furniture, as all this stuff makes the printed message look messy? I was able to do this with GMail’s old interface a while ago, but now I am unable to find this option.

A. It sounds as though you are trying to print e-mails by selecting the Print option in your web browser. This will result in a printout that is a replica of everything you see on your screen, advertisements and other unwanted elements included. There is a print option available within GMail itself that ensures that only the current message is printed with no extra information. Open an e-mail that you would like to print and either click the small printer icon at the top right of the message area, or click the down-pointing arrow to the right of the Reply button. Select the Print option and you can then configure your printer setting: such as whether you’d like to print in colour or draft mode, before clicking Print.

Q. Can two computers print to the same printer? I do this manually at present by swapping the USB cable between them but it isn’t very convenient.

A. Assuming you have a home network, an easy way to do this would be to buy a print server-style unit that attaches the printer to the network. In this way, any computer that’s connected to the same network will also be able to ‘see’ and send print jobs to the printer. Belkin's Network USB Hub, for instance, costs around £30 and has five USB sockets, so several devices can be shared across the network. For example, as well as your printer you could connect and share an external hard disk and a webcam. A device such as the Network USB Hub is particularly convenient when the computers aren’t situated close together, but if the computers aren’t networked it is of no use. In that case, a simple USB switch will do the job. There are many different makes and models of USB switch available, but they all do much the same job and you should pay no more than around £15 for one.

Q. My Epson Stylus printer has stopped working. Just before it stopped, it had been flashing a warning that “component parts are nearing the end of their service life”. Since I have over £100 worth of unused cartridges for the printer, is there any way that I can get the printer to work again?

A. Inkjet printers - not only Epson's - require a steady supply of wet ink. Such a printer will periodically run a procedure intended to clear the printhead of fluff and other detritus. This procedure generates excess ink, which is dumped onto a waste pad to avoid your desk/table being messed up. These ink dumps are recorded by the printer, and after a certain number, when the waste pad is likely to be saturated, the printer stops working. The pad is sealed right inside the printer in a liquid-tight compartment, and is difficult to access without disturbing delicate components of the printer. So, rather than risk having to field claims for broken printers and ink-stained desks and carpets as a result of non-professional repairs, the manufacturers want you to buy a new printer. If you are prepared to do that, then try to buy one that uses the cartridges that you have unused! However, if you are feeling brave, it is possible to dismantle the printer, drain and clean the pad, and then reset the counter to zero. For your Epson printer, visit http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml to download a free copy of the counter reset software, and http://www.tinyurl.com/cqfme89/ and http://www.tinyurl.com/2uuuc6/ for instructions on how to get into the printer.

Q. I want to add a new printer to my Wi-Fi network, but have forgotten the password. Is it possible discover it from my Netgear wireless router?

A. It should be. All routers contain software that one can access via a web browser, and you can use that to change settings like the Wi-Fi password. You need to know the router's address to do this, which will be in the manual. The default address for the majority of routers is 192.168.0.1, but you will need to use an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to one of the sockets on the back of the router. (Such a cable will have been supplied with the router, but may be bought very cheaply from somewhere like PC World.) Open a browser, and type the string of numbers that is the router's address into the browser's address bar. You will be asked for the administrator's name and password. Netgear's default for this is admin and password. Once logged in, open the screen that deals with wireless security. Depending on versions/models you may not be able to view the current password, but you will be able to enter a new one. If you cannot log on, the details must have been changed in the past, but you can do a factory reset by pressing a button on the back of the router which will restore the admin name and password to the defaults. Look up your specific router model on Netgear's website for details of how to do this.

Q. I need to print some of the text messages on my iPhone. Is there an app that does this?

A. The short answer is that there is no way to print text messages directly from an iPhone. However, if you copy and paste them into an app - like Notes - then there are ways of printing them. The iPhone operating system includes a wireless printing technology called AirPrint, which allows printing from some iPhone apps, but the number of printers as yet compatible with AirPrint is small, and they are at the higher cost end of the printer range. If your printer doesn't support AirPrint, then rather than buy a new printer I suggest that you install Fingerprint 2 (runs on both Macs and PCs), which costs around £18. Run on a Wi-Fi-enabled computer, this will find any printer connected to the computer and make it available to any Apple device. It also allows you to transfer e-mails and other files from an iPhone to the computer.

Q. I used to be able to print text boxes in my Word documents, but now there are just blank spaces where they should be when I print these documents. The same problem applies to drawings if I insert them using the drawing icons at the bottom of the document. What have I done to cause this?

A. Text boxes are treated by Word as graphics. I suspect that what has happened is that the preferences for Word have been accidentally changed to print documents faster by omitting inserted graphics. The solution is simple. Launch Word, go to Tools, then Options, then select the Print tab. Where it shows the "Include with document" option, tick the box that says "Drawing objects". This will save the preference for all future printing.