How to Clean Inkjet Printer Cartridges

You need to clean your inkjetcartridge nozzles about once every three months or whenever theoutput from your printer suddenly starts streaking. You don't need a scrub brush to clean your printer cartridges; instead, your printer can take care of cleaning its own cartridges (with your approval, of course). You can probably access your printer's cartridge-cleaning controls in its Properties dialog box:

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1

Choose Start→Printers and Faxes to see the available printers on your system.

Or choose Start→Settings→Printers and Faxes, depending on how your Start menu is configured.

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2

Right-click the printer you want to calibrate and then choose Properties from the pop-upmenu that appears.

The printer's Properties dialog box appears.

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3

Locate the printer's cleaning options.

You might have to search the tabs (or check your printer's manual).

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4

Click the appropriate cleaning button.

Your printer cleans the ink nozzles, hopefully giving you perfectly printed pages again.

Your printer's cartridge-cleaning controls may be available when you run the maintenance programsupplied by your printer manufacturer. If you can't find a cleaning option in the Properties dialog box for your printer, try the maintenance program.

If you refill an inkjet cartridge, you should clean the cartridge nozzles immediately after the refilled cartridge has been reinstalled.