The madness of Windows Vista and printers

My printer is connected to a Linux / Ubuntu computer running CUPS, which is software to offer a printer to other computers for easy setup. I haven't had a problem setting up printing from Ubuntu and Windows XP computers. When I set up printing from a Windows Vista computer, it was initially frustrating. But I eventually figured out how to do it, and it worked fine for several weeks. All of a sudden the printer quit working on only the Vista computer. I initially suspected I mis-configured something in CUPS that Vista just wasn't as tolerant of. But after lots of fiddling and googling for answers, in desperation I finally decided to delete the Vista printer and reinstall it.

There are 3 ways in Vista to install a printer, and a 4th way if you are printing to a printer connected to a Mac or Linux computer.

• You can use the default auto-detect feature.

• You can click on "my printer wasn't listed," and add the correct port (in this case an IP port), then manually install the printer.

• You can click on "my printer wasn't listed," and specify the printer location by IP address.

Be warned, in my experience, though Vista will act like it correctly installed a CUPS printer using the first 2 methods, the printer will never work. You have to specify the printer location by IP address initially, and then for good measure, go into printer options and disable "advanced printer features."

The fourth way I haven't tried, but I have heard good things about, is to install Bonjour for Windows from Apple. It is Apple's implementation of auto-discovery for devices and peripherals. Bonjour will then automatically find the printer on the other computer and set it up to print from in Vista.

By the way, this isn't the first time I have had trouble with the Vista printer applet forgetting how to print to a printer. I've even had it randomly delete a printer from the control panel. So much for Vista being a better and easier to use computing experience. Of course we knew better already, didn't we.