I can’t keep ink in my printer, as I have a daughter who is trying to print the internet (how many bits of badly written fanfiction LOTR fluff does one need, anyway? So far about 700 pages…) Can anyone tell me how to lock the printer up with a password?
… or do I have to lock up the cartridge in a gun cabinet?
Thanks!
You can right click and select “Use printer offline”. That will just store all the documents in the queue where you can delete them later. Depending how savvy she is with PCs, she could figure out how to put it back online. Or you could disable the LPT1 port in the Device Manager.
Probably easier to disconnect and hide the data cable. I looked, but found no software to password-lock a printer under any Windows OS.
Maybe I sould just make HER pay for ink cartridges…
Ink jet printers are ungodly expensive to keep fed. Buy a little HP laser for $ 150. at Staples and she’ll be able to print out several thousand sheets per cartridge. Much cheaper than an inkjet.
I was just thinking. Here at the hospital some of the win98 machines have Policy Editor on them. You could set that up with a winlogin that will only allow you to print and no one else. It’s like Group Policy for pre-W2K computers.
What OS are you using ? Windows XP Pro does have some “Permissions” options.
My bad. Didn’t read the thread title 
Sorry.
Yeah, remove the printer cable or disable the port or printer from Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Device Manager.
You could also set the printer to “Disable in this hardware profile” from there. But if your daughter is computer savvy, she would figure that out.
You can always install a switch with a lock like computers used to have.
I have a system which I have used to protect many devices over the years and it works pretty well but you have to know a bit about electronics and soldering. i will explain several scenarios with increasing complexity.
You can hide a switch which will disable/enable the data part or the power supply. Many years ago I had a phone which I did not want people dialing out from so I hid a small microswitch which was inside and would be activated with a small plug I would put through a hole in the base. The switch enabled the dialing circuit but the phone could always receive calls. Put the plug in, put the phone back down and nobody can tell the difference and now you can dial out. When I leave I take the plug out and the base has many holes anyway so you would have to know exactly why and what to do. If anybody asks you just cultivate the notion that the phone is not working right: “Yeah, it’s strange, sometimes it won’t dial”.
You can take this one step further and make the switch a reed switch which is activated by proximity with a magnet. That way the switch is totally hidden from view. I have done this with some expensive electronics. If a burglar takes my stereo he will be surprised to find it will not work for him. It will only work if you place a magnet near a certain place and the magnet was fixed to the wall or cabinet. The insurance will replace my stereo and I have the satisfaction of knowing the burglar wasted his time.
You can improve on this a bit more: rather than a reed switch, use a reed relay. You activate it with a magnet but then use the coil to keep it activated so you can remove the magnet and the device will remain enabled as long as it is powered but if you remove the power, then you would have to activate it again with the magnet the next time it is powered up. You could do this with the printer and, again, just cultivate the notion that the printer is now malfunctioning due to the abuse it has taken: sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but only you know what makes the difference. Passing the magnet by the right spot can be done when no one is paying attention or even on the sly and no one should notice. You can place the reed switch in the printer, the computer or anywhere convenient. You just need to know enough to know what signal or cable to interrupt.
A better idea yet: Tell the kid she has to pay for the ink out of her allowance and sell her the ink cartridges at a 100% markup. This way everybody wins. Especially you.
It doesn’t seem to be widely known, but Windows 95/98 also has user policies.
On your Windows 98 CD, go to the ools\reskit
etadmin\poledit\ directory and run poledit.exe. This will allow you to set up user policies in 98.
If you don’t want to use policies, there are at least 2 programs that will allow you to restrict her printer access. Fortres and Lockdown both allow you that option, at a price.
But what if I come for it now ? 
Seriously though, that’s some excellent info. Could you post a link with more details, or better still a step-by-step guide for dummies ?
Well, the basic concept is there and should be enough for anyone who knows enough to know what he is doing and anyone who does not know enough about electronics should probably not risk messing with expensive gear. I cannot explain much more in a short post but I could do a web page with some illustrations. I’ll keep the idea in mind and post a link here if I get around to doing it. (Which reminds me I have half a dozen unfinished similar projects.)
My first thought was to agree with the person who said to remove the printer cable. But then I realized that it’s pretty cheap and easy for the kid to get a new cable (or borrow one), and I hit upon the ideal solution: take the ink cartridge. That way any workaround she comes up with involves her getting her own ink cartridge, so the problem of her wasting your ink is solved.
Take the ink cartridge and you probably end up with a dry cartridge and clogged printhead. I would look for another solution.
Maybe I’ll get unlazy enough to work up a little program to password lock printer access. Doesn’t sound like it would be all that difficult. But I’m notorious for not getting around to these things, so don’t hold your breath.
I suppose it would not be too difficult to just have a BAT file which would hide and unhide the printer driver or some other file. To prevent my computer from being used by others I have hidden WIN.COM by renaming it. Next time you start Windows you get an error message that WIN.COM cannot be found and windows cannot start. Then you go in DOS mode and rename it back. If you do not know what the hidden name is then you have a problem. I used to hide it so well I would never remember the hidden name so I ended up having a BAT file to do it automatically as it was easier to remember the name of the BAT file.
Man, sailor, where do you stay ? 