Windows’ relationship with printers is shaky at best. We’re either forced to use ancient drivers, or an update blows up the print queue. At the same time, the printer might have issues with its print heads, or another component failing inside. All the operating system offers is a basic test page, but if you want to know how to thoroughly test your printer in Windows, the first step is to download a copy of Print.Test.Page.OK.
Printers! Evil creatures if there ever were any. Between the DRM poison in their cartridges, their construction with papier-mâché and hopes, and the Jurassic profile of drivers published by their manufacturers, our nightmares are guaranteed. The printer is without a doubt one of the worst devices we can have next to the computer... but it is also a necessary evil, and we must keep working.
As if that were not enough, the entire maintenance and troubleshooting process is on us. Windows’ assistants are completely useless, and its printer test page is the most basic thing in the world (a handful of text with the Windows logo). Fortunately, there are slightly more advanced resources to test your printer in Windows, and one of them is Print.Test.Page.OK, free and portable.
How to test your printer in Windows with the Print.Test.Page.OK app
The program automatically detects the operating system’s language on its first launch. If for some reason the interface seems too small, click the zoom button, and Print.Test.Page.OK will restart in expanded mode. In total, there are ten test pages available: two basic text and color patterns, two “cleaning” patterns for color and black cartridges, a color printing spectrum (a true cartridge destroyer, be careful), and five gradients, one of them customizable.
You can also modify the font for text modes, and of course, what goes on the sheet. Print.Test.Page.OK enables shortcuts to configure general printing, configure the page, and use landscape mode. The last two commands activate dark or light mode (changing the interface’s gray to white) and tell the program to start with Windows. Print.Test.Page.OK is available in 32 or 64 bits, and its only technical requirement is that the “Print Spooler” service is running.
Official site and download: Click here
