The Blog at SuppliesUSA

Microsoft’s upcoming Internet Explorer will include a new set of privacy settings designed to give users more control over their information.

Users will now be able to choose whether to share their browsing and searching information and to know how it is used.

InPrivate Browsing and InPrivate Blocking settings will allow users to prevent the browser from saving any search or browsing history at all and also to automatically delete such data at the end of each session.

Users will also be able to disable saving of all off-line data including cookies, passwords, and form data.

More information on these and other new features is available when you visit Microsoft.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is currently in Beta 2 release and is due out in the next few weeks.

Yes, it is online, but often we also want that information printed, to review it off-line, to store it, to save it. Here are some tips for efficiently printing your online information from your internet browser.

- Decide whether you need the images on the page to print. If you don’t, uncheck the ‘Print Background Colors and Images’ option in Tools>Internet Options>Advanced.
- Confirm your Page Setup options. Edit or remove header and footer information based on your needs and preferences.
- Select File>Print.
- To prevent uncessary pages from printing, select a range of pages. When applicable, highlight the section of the internet page that you would like to print, and check the Print Selection box.
- Use the Print Preview feature to see what your printout will look like.
- Click Preferences/Properties and select Paper Quality, Paper Size, and Print Quality.

Finally, when you run out of printer supplies, visit SuppliesUSA.com.

Mozilla released Firefox 3 yesterday, June 17th, 2008. The new version uses less resources, offers improved performance and security, and many new features. Download Firefox 3 here.

Remanufactured cartridges made by third-party companies are not all equal to original cartridges and can actually cost more.

According to Buyers Laboratory (BLI), a leading independent test lab and business consumer advocate, the lower average price claimed for remanufactured cartridges translated in a true cost up to 34% higher than the cost of original cartridges. BLI further concluded that a majority of non original toner cartridges tested failed to deliver acceptable performance.

On average, 22% of remanufactured cartridges experienced out of the box failures, 19% experienced quality failures over the life of the cartridge, 20% caused premature fuser replacement or even failure, and only 56% of expected pages actually printed.

When buying your toner and inkjet cartridges, think “true cost”.

Page yields express the total number of pages that one can expect to print with a specific toner cartridge or ink cartridge.

These yields are important to accurately calculate costs per page and to compare brands when evaluating printers, copiers, or even fax machines.

However, manufacturers can each decide the method and the environment to run those tests, so the results are not as reliable as they should be.

In December 2006, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved new standards for ink and color toner cartridge yield measurements. A standard for black toner cartridges was already published in June 2004 and endorsed by companies like HP, Lexmark, Canon, and Epson.

The new standard defines a uniform methodology to measure these yields:
- 9 cartridges will be used for the test. They must have different manufacturing dates, come from different locations, and be used until empty.
- A minimum of 3 different cartridges are tested on a minimum of 3 different printers to reduce printer-based variability.
- Printer default settings are set.
- A standard PDF document suite is used.
- The paper size must be 8.5”x11” (letter size) or A4.
- The environment is kept at a controlled temperature.
- The reported yield must be at, or below, 90% of the mean.

We hope this standard is promptly applied by all toner manufacturers. Consumers will benefit from this long overdue transparence.

Used Data Tapes: Don’t buy them, Don’t sell them!

To control supplies costs, companies changing data storage formats sometimes consider selling their old data tapes instead of destroying them. At the same time, others consider buying recertified data cartridges instead of new ones. SuppliesUSA recommends against both practices.

Companies selling their used data cartridges might expose internal data. Indeed, degaussing data tapes is not an exact science. For example, not all degaussers erase data on all data formats. Different formats require different magnetic field strength to actually erase the data. Post-degaussing audits are often telling. Imation Corporation documented several audit cases where they found data on tapes that large organizations were about to resell, this after established recertifiers had degaussed the tapes. Also, some new formats tapes like LTO and others run the risk of becoming useless if the servo track is erased during the degaussing.

From the buyers perspective, recertified data tapes don’t offer the peace of mind companies need for their critical backup storage media. There is no way to determine the environmental factors the cartridges already endured, or how past mishandling might have affected the cartridge’s integrity, or the useful life remaining. Abnormal stress, debris, damage, all affect a data cartridge and recertifying it does not remove any of these factors.

Companies left with data cartridges to be retired should degauss and securely destroy the cartridges. Companies buying data tapes should always buy new ones, even if, to adhere to a low budget, they have to buy fewer tapes. Your data is your business, and it must stay that way.

“Free” printers are often expensive.

Gillette’s famous marketing approach of offering free razors to profit from the sale of the blades has been used in the printer industry before.

HP, for example, spends billions of dollars in research and development to produce some of the world’s best printers, only to offer these printers at extremely low prices and incredible value. Lexmark, Xerox, and others also offer very aggressive prices on high quality printers.

They do so to profit from the sale of consumables for these printers. It works for consumers as they get great values on good printers. The supplies are broadly distributed and that ensures competitive pricing to all.

Now, Dell is giving away, or heavily discounting, its printers.

This is different: Supplies for Dell printers can only be purchased at Dell. As a result, there are no substantive discounts. No distribution means no competition. The prices are inevitably higher.

If you use your printers in a medium or heavy office environment, what you will overpay for your not-discounted supplies will pay for this “free” printer in months. What you will overpay after that, well, you will overpay.

Free anything is appealing but when buying, or getting, a printer, it behooves you to focus on the total cost of ownership. You will avoid poisonous gifts.