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| © Getty Images, Contributor / Getty Images The iPhone makes it pretty easy to block callers and texters you no longer want to deal with. |
Q: I constantly receive text messages on my iPhone that I simply don’t want to receive. Is there a way to block these?
A: The iPhone makes it pretty easy to block callers and texters you no longer want to deal with.
To do this, in the Message app open one of the messages that you want to block. Then tap the number at the top of the message and tap Info.
Then tap the number one more time and select Block This Caller at the bottom of the screen that pops up.
You can do the same for callers by opening the Phone app and selecting Recents and then tapping the information icon to the right and scrolling down and tapping Block This Caller.
Should you ever want to go back and unblock someone, go to Settings and look for Messages or Phone, depending on what you want to unblock, and then look for Blocked Contacts.
Here you can swipe the item to the left and unblock if you care to do so.
Q: I have an HP printer I am trying to connect to my Mac Mini. The software they include is something called HP Easy Scan that is supposed to scan my network, detect the printer and install the drivers. The problem is, it never finds the printer. Is there a way to manually install the drivers? All HP offers for this printer is this tool which doesn’t work.
A: I have recently experienced this method of software deployment for the latest batch of HP printers and I, too, have found it rather frustrating. Especially for network printers. This issue seems to be specific to the Mac, as the Easy Scan software works pretty well on a Windows machine.
If you connect the printer to your Mac using USB, the software seems to work just fine. But if it’s a network printer and the scanning software cannot detect it, HP makes it difficult to install the proper drivers.
Fortunately, I found a solution for Mac users which is to use an app called HP Easy Admin that lets you pull down the Mac drivers for various HP printers. Instructions for downloading, installing and using the app can be found at tinyurl.com/helplineeasyadmin.
Once you have the drivers, you can pretty easily add the printer using the IP address that was assigned by your router and then selecting the drivers from the drop down menu in Printer Preferences.
It’s not always ideal, as you do need to be able to find the IP of the printer. And you may also want to manually assign the IP address so the printer can always be found at the same network location.
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To do this, in the Message app open one of the messages that you want to block. Then tap the number at the top of the message and tap Info.
Then tap the number one more time and select Block This Caller at the bottom of the screen that pops up.
You can do the same for callers by opening the Phone app and selecting Recents and then tapping the information icon to the right and scrolling down and tapping Block This Caller.
Should you ever want to go back and unblock someone, go to Settings and look for Messages or Phone, depending on what you want to unblock, and then look for Blocked Contacts.
Here you can swipe the item to the left and unblock if you care to do so.
Q: I have an HP printer I am trying to connect to my Mac Mini. The software they include is something called HP Easy Scan that is supposed to scan my network, detect the printer and install the drivers. The problem is, it never finds the printer. Is there a way to manually install the drivers? All HP offers for this printer is this tool which doesn’t work.
A: I have recently experienced this method of software deployment for the latest batch of HP printers and I, too, have found it rather frustrating. Especially for network printers. This issue seems to be specific to the Mac, as the Easy Scan software works pretty well on a Windows machine.
If you connect the printer to your Mac using USB, the software seems to work just fine. But if it’s a network printer and the scanning software cannot detect it, HP makes it difficult to install the proper drivers.
Fortunately, I found a solution for Mac users which is to use an app called HP Easy Admin that lets you pull down the Mac drivers for various HP printers. Instructions for downloading, installing and using the app can be found at tinyurl.com/helplineeasyadmin.
Once you have the drivers, you can pretty easily add the printer using the IP address that was assigned by your router and then selecting the drivers from the drop down menu in Printer Preferences.
It’s not always ideal, as you do need to be able to find the IP of the printer. And you may also want to manually assign the IP address so the printer can always be found at the same network location.
