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Think about this, keeping your printer in tip top shape is no different to cleaning your teeth or taking your car to the garage for a service, there are simple everyday things you can do to maintain and prolong the life of your printer.

Here's just a few:

• Turn off the power and unplug the printer before you start

• Always clean the outside of your printer no less than every seven days.

• Be sure to use a damp, lint-free cloth dipped in water or rubbing alcohol when wiping away dust, dirt, hair, and any unwanted compounds. Warning, stronger cleaners like solvents can damage the printer case.

• Open your machine and remove the toner cartridge. Be sure to clean the gears and the rollers along the paper path. The best way to clean the rollers is to rub alcohol or Bestine (a solvent) over it with a cloth.

• Do not use an air blower to clean the inside of your HP printer because dirt and dust can be blasted straight back into your printer. For better HP maintenance, invest in a small portable vacuum cleaner and use it.

• Before you go spending money on replacing the toner cartridge, rock it gently from side to side. This lengthens the life of your toner. It also redistributes the toner and your printer will produce better prints evenly across the pages.

• In order to clean the print heads, simply remove the cartridge, and smoothly clean the print heads using a soft cotton cloth dampened by water. Do not use anything else to dampen the cloth or you could damage your machine. Make sure the print heads are dry and then replace the cartridge.

• Do not let the ink in your printer dry out. To prevent this simple print something using both color and black twice every week if you don't use your printer much.

• Every now and then run a clean page through your printer as it will pick up lint, dust, and stray toner. With some printers, you will have to take the printer offline and then press the Form Feed button. Otherwise, open your word processor (keeping the page blank) and hit Print. Should your printer not print a blank page you only need to enter one solitary letter and hit print again.

• Whenever your printer is not in use, protect it with a printer cover. You can buy one at just about any computer shop or office works.

Be cautious with printer jams. Don't ram the paper out if you have a paper jam. Ramming the paper can damage your printer and create unnecessary HP printer repairs. Take a moment to look at the guide on the manufactures website. The majority of HP Printers have a hatch attached at the back that can be easily taken off. Simply remove it and take the paper out this way.

Always power down the right way and do it when you leave for the day every day. Turning your printer off when it's not in use can prevent drying of ink and also help keeps the printer functioning at high quality. First use the printer's power button then switch the power off at the main. Warning if you carry out regular print ink clean by software or your printer's hardware, only do it once, not too regularly or you can cause more harm than good. Be sure you clean the printer's "encoder strip" monthly to prevent quality issues at later stages of your printer's life. Whenever you're thinking about HP maintenance or servicing you should remember there's no set time to have your HP printer inspected by a professional as the HP printers are designed to work tirelessly. Be sure to use these printer tips in order to safe you and your company on unnecessary expenses on HP printer maintenance and repairs.