The gremlins infecting your printer are most likely not from another planet if the printouts of documents for your company suddenly start to resemble transmissions in an alien tongue. Instead, it’s possible that you were a victim of one of the numerous hardware or software problems that might impair the output of your workplace printer. Nevertheless, depending on the problem, you might be able to identify and fix it without too much trouble or expense.
Printer Driver
Garbled output can result from issues with the driver software that maintains communications between your computer, operating system, applications, and printer. The symptoms in some cases can be linked to installing the incorrect driver for your output hardware or OS version. In some cases, the drivers are compatible with your setup, but these vital support files have been corrupted by an unpredicted system error, such as a power surge. Download the correct drivers from the printer manufacturer’s website and replace your current installation to rule out drivers as the cause of your issue. When addressing a networked printer to which someone else previously printed a job using the incorrect driver and you are using the correct software, shut down the printer to remove the previously printed job from its memory, and then restart it.
Data Cable
Your output chain depends on the cable that transfers data from your computer to the printer; if the cable is damaged or loose at either end, the print job information may not be transmitted correctly. To solve this problem, switch off your computer and printer, take out and reinstall the cable, and then turn the devices back on. If squeaky-clean connections are unable to fix your output issues, try replacing the cable.
Corrupt or Challenging Print Job
Your printer might not be at fault if your output becomes jumbled when trying to print a large document or if it exhibits odd symptoms that could indicate file corruption. Printing a large file in portions or using scaled-down copies of pictures created in a page-layout or word-processing programme might lighten its load. You might be able to save a file that behaves strangely by copying and pasting its contents into a different file, opening a backup copy or version of your project, or reverting your file and undoing any modifications you’ve made.
Computer Virus
These kinds of negative outcomes are also possible with some computer infections. For instance, PCWorld says that a Trojan-like piece of Windows malware reappeared in June 2012. When Milicenso was discovered for the first time in 2010, it infected some users’ machines via email links that went to malicious websites. Trojan once aboard. Milicenso generated a spool file and forced compromised systems to print it, printing page after page of random data. By running an updated anti-malware programme and deleting the virus from your system, you can usually fix these kinds of problems.
