Printing Issues

Whenever I try printing something onto a 4 x 6 card (border free), in the preview screen it cuts off half of the pic ture. It only shows a portion of the photo. It also still has the border too. What might I be doing wrong? I have an Epson Stylus Photo 780.

Which application?

keep in mind, i am a computer novice...however, when I open photos, it opens them with an Internet Explorer viewer, it seems.

Right, so you're trying to print photos?

First step -- don't use Internet Explorer. It's not even that good at printing web pages.

Which version of Windows are you using? If it's XP, then the built-in picture viewer (which normally appears when you open a JPG file) is pretty good at printing. At least, it's always worked when printing onto 4x6 glossy for me (I have a Lexmark inkjet).

If it's an earlier version of Windows, like 2000 or 98, it probably includes the "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer". You should be able to find this under Programs/Accessories in the Start menu. Try printing your pictures with this.

Failing that, a copy of Paintshop Pro (version 4 is free now, if you can find it) should do a good job.

First step -- don't use Internet Explorer.

In fact, when I try it, it seems to completely ignore my paper/orientation choices.

If it's XP, then the built-in picture viewer...

In fact, the built-in Photo Printing Wizard (which comes up when you press Print from the viewer) just seems to do the "right thing". It's pretty cool.

First step -- don't use Internet Explorer. It's not even that good at printing web pages.

Printing web pages is an inherently difficult problem in full generality, and it's very considerate of Microsoft to conceal that complexity from the user by completely screwing up even the trivial cases.

Peter