Hints from Heloise

Dear Heloise: You had an article about the HIGH PRICE OF PRINTER INK. This is about printers in general. I love my printer; however, the manufacturer has installed an automatic alert system for when it gets low on ink.

Great — now I can go buy another cartridge for when it is empty.

My complaint is that it starts alerting me when it is just barely below half and throws two or three screens up that I have to click out of before I can go ahead with the printing project I have.

I called the company, and it cannot be reconfigured. I spend many minutes clicking and clicking because the printer thinks I’m low on ink. Believe me, I will never repurchase this brand of printer again. — Sherril Gerard, Santa Ana, Calif.

Sherril, that sounds like a pain! This is why it is important, before you buy a printer, to check on the price of refill cartridges. So, in your case, just keep clicking away. This way, you will get the most for your money. — Heloise LOST PHONE Dear Heloise: To help people return my locked phone if I lose it, I make a note with my husband’s cell number on it (”If found, please call _____”) and put its picture in my photo album. I then use that photo as my lock-screen picture. — Bev Calfee, The Villages, Fla. HIDING PASSWORDS Dear Heloise: My friend hides passwords for her accounts and stuff in a computer file. I told her that this is a terrible idea, because if the computer crashed and she lost her hard drive, no more stored passwords.

I told her that I keep all of my passwords in an address book. But they are written in a way that no one except me knows how to read them. There are many different things you can add to a password to make it unknown. — Bobby Jo, via fax

This is one reason why you should always “back up” your computer info on a regular basis! — Heloise