We know we are selling ourselves hard in this article, but you probably searched a phrase like “Computers and printers near me, in stock,” to have this article recommended to you by Google. With that being the case, you are probably looking for a company that can deliver products or services to you right away.

If that’s the case, fill out this form and we will be in touch shortly to share what we have available and can deliver to you right now.[/cz_title]

We are not entirely unaffected by the supply chain problems, but for common items like laptops, laptop accessories, multi-function printers, printer supplies, and more, we have full warehouses in each of our 9 locations.[/cz_title]

9 Locations and Over 13 Service Areas!

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Contact Us Today

to find out what we have available and how we can help you right away.

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Announcement:

On May 30^th, 2022, Google will be making changes which will affect the way users and users’ apps are allowed to log in to Gmail Accounts. This change could cause your Multi-function Printer to lose the ability to scan-to-email. Thankfully, Les Olson IT has a resolution which will prevent any disruption of this important service.

At your convenience, please reach out to a member of the Les Olson IT Image and Print team to verify that your scan-to-email settings will remain functional. We want to provide you a proactive solution. The Les Olson IT Image and Print Technical Helpdesk can be reached at (801) 413-2106

Thank you,[/cz_title]

HP has recently developed a set of recommendations with a team of board-certified infection preventionists to disinfect office equipment and devices to tamp down potential pathogen transmission. These devices in your office are valuable tools for accessing and transmitting data, however disinfecting these devices is now an important component of environmental hygiene for infection prevention. Your organization should come up with a clear plan for routine cleaning and disinfection of the devices and accessories. Clearly communicate who is responsible for these tasks, and provide the appropriate training.

General Guidelines:

• Presaturated disinfecting wipes are recommended for cleaning, rather than spray-on disinfectants applied to a cloth, to avoid dripping of the solution into the ventilation or other points of ingress, which can damage the equipment.
• Fibrous materials like paper towels and cloths should not be used for cleaning and disinfection of the equipment to avoid scratching the displays.
• The use of keyboard covers does not replace the need for cleaning and disinfection.
• Routine cleaning and disinfection of the computers and displays should start with the top of the display monitor, proceed to accessories, and finish with the cables. Routine cleaning and disinfection of the copiers and printers should start with the top of the control panel and finish with the keyboard. Ensure that disinfecting wipes remain wet during the entire application.
• Turn off the equipment to avoid electrical shock or damage to the components.
• Encourage use of equipment with clean hands.

Cleaning

• If the equipment or device is visibly soiled, it should be cleaned following these steps, prior to disinfection.
• Perform hand hygiene
• Remove soil from the device or accessory with disinfecting wipe or a water-dampened cloth (microfiber, chambois, or static-free cloth recommended)
• Allow device to air dry.

Disinfecting

• Perform hand hygiene.
• Disinfect all exposed surfaces of the computer and display, including the accessories.
• Disinfect the surface of the control panel and keyboard of the copier or printer.
  Ensure that the disinfecting wipe remains wet during this entire process, replacing if necessary.
• Ensure that the surfaces remain treated with the disinfectant for the contact time specified by the manufacturer of the disinfecting wipes.
• Allow to air dry.
• Perform hand hygiene.

Frequency

Routine disinfection of devices and accessories should be performed daily.

Types of Wipes

• Hypochlorite (bleach) wipes
• Hydrogen peroxide wipes
• Alcohol-free quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) wipes
• QAC/alcohol wipes

We hope this information helps you in your efforts to keep everyone in your office healthy. If you have any questions about the right kinds of cloths and cleaning supplies for your office equipment, contact us.[/cz_title][cz_gap height=”30px” id=”cz_62034″]

The good news is, there’s a better way! If you have a Sharp Copier with Card Shot, you can use it to copy both sides of a card onto a single page, and even scan them into your computer to store them digitally. In this article we will walk you through the steps of making a Card Shot Copy on your Sharp Copier, the steps will be similar for scanning.[/cz_title][cz_gap height=”25px”]

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The copier’s error message says it’s out of paper, but there’s clearly paper in the tray. What gives?

It’s one of the most common frustrations when using an office copier: the dreaded “Out of Paper” error. You have paper in the trays, but the message has not gone away. And now you can’t run your print job. It can be frustrating and time-consuming, but luckily, it is typically just a case of “user error” and therefore, an easy fix.

The first thing you should know is that “Out of Paper” is a somewhat generic error message that could mean several things:

• The machine is indeed out of paper.
• You have run out of paper in one tray and the wrong type of paper is loaded in the tray set as a backup paper tray.
• You have the wrong kind of paper loaded for your print job.

If you are experiencing one of these things, easy fix! Read on for some additional information, tips, and how-to’s.

Often times, people will have letterhead or colored paper loaded in the copier, but then they send the machine a print job that is asking for plain paper, 8.5″ x 11″. Modern copiers can tell what type of paper is loaded in their trays. So, they can sense that the pre-loaded letterhead or colored paper is the wrong type of paper for a standard print job. When this happens, it will send out that same dreaded “Out of Paper” error message.

The same is true if you ask the copier to print on a specialty paper, but the copier is loaded with standard paper. Modern copy machines may be smart, but they have a limited vocabulary. By displaying the message “Out of Paper” or “Load Paper” the machine is saying that the paper you have selected for the print job is not in the tray.

Another common scenario plays out when you have specialty papers loaded in the paper trays below a tray loaded with standard paper. If the tray of standard paper runs out in the middle of a standard print job, the copier will attempt to load the specialty paper below to continue the print job. Since the copier knows these are the wrong paper types, it will also display the message “Out of Paper.”

Offices that print a lot of spreadsheets might be familiar with the next common reason copy machines display the “Out of Paper” error, especially if you commonly adjust the margins on your spreadsheets. When you tinker with your spreadsheet margins, it is easy to accidentally set them just slightly over the default margins set for 8.5 in. by 11 in. standard paper.

This accidental margin adjustment enlarges the paper size for the print job and therefore your copy machine doesn’t think the right paper is loaded in the tray. Even if this margin is pushed by just a hair, a copy machine will assume the print job should be on specialty paper. For instance, a margin setting of 8.55 inches wide instead of the standard 8.5 inches will trigger an error. Be sure to double-check the margins on your spreadsheet print jobs to make sure the copier is printing to the correct size paper.

A less common reason for the error, but one you should be aware of especially if you work in the medical field, has to do with A4 size paper. A4 is a European size of paper that is very close in size to the American standard of 8.5 in. by 11 in. paper. When print jobs are set to A4, but you have loaded the machine with 8.5 in. by 11 in. paper, your copy machine will think it is the wrong type of paper for the print job you have selected.

This is often confusing because these two types of paper are so similar in size. However, even though the contents of the print job “look” like they should fit on standard paper, the copier will look for A4 paper in the tray, only to discover that it is not there. When it doesn’t find it, guess what happens. That’s right! You will see the “Out of Paper” display.

So, if you encounter this type of error a lot, or your print jobs often are set to A4, thankfully there is an override available that allows your copier to ignore the A4 margins and go ahead and print on 8.5 in. by 11 in. paper. A service call is all you need to get the override loaded onto your machine!

If you have any questions about error messages, what types of paper to use in your copier or anything else about how your copy machine works, always feel free to contact our service department. Our friendly experts love helping our customers problem-solve these types of error messages and find solutions that are best for your business’ specific needs. We are always happy to help![/cz_title][cz_gap height=”30px” id=”cz_62034″]

Assessing the risk

A modern copy machine is a multifunction, networked device with a sleek digital interface that fulfills several crucial functions for your business operations. It copies, prints, scans, emails and faxes documents for your business and clients, including those containing sensitive information. It is just this type of information that hackers could exploit, if given access. If your copy machine isn’t secured, it could put your business and clients at risk.

Your copier can perform so many functions because, like a computer, it has a hard drive. Once your document is sent or scanned to the copier, the copy machine creates a digital file of your print job. If you haven’t secured your copier, there could be thousands of vulnerable documents containing sensitive information data thieves would love to have.

Data security at the source

The hard drive is only a risk if it can be read. Thankfully, the copy machines provided by Les Olson Company are configured so they don’t allow information to be retrieved after a copy is made. Although the copy machine creates a digital file of your print job, the file is immediately erased after it is complete. There is no way for you — or a potential security threat — to pull digital files of past printing, copying, email or faxing jobs.

Even if someone were to physically steal your copier’s hard drive, it wouldn’t do them much good. That’s because each hard drive is paired to a specific machine. The files are encrypted with this machine, and this machine only, to prevent any information from being recovered if a hard-drive theft occurs. The hard drive is not compatible with any other copy machine, including an exact replica of the machine it was removed from.

Special considerations when retiring your copier

In addition to immediately erasing print jobs and encrypting the hard drive paired to a specific machine, Les Olson Company also protects your data when your machine becomes obsolete. When a copy machine is retired, Les Olson Company wipes the hard drive using a process approved by the Department of Defense. This process overwrites the data seven times and is so thorough that many hard drives don’t survive the wipe.

During this seven-wipe process, every digital file on the hard drive is overwritten with zeros and ones seven times. Finally, the wiped hard drives are subjected to one final process, drilling holes in the hard drive to render your old hard drive and the data it once contained unusable.

What else can you do to secure your copy machine?

Purchase a security kit:
When your business deals with high volumes of sensitive information, you can guarantee the security of your copy machine by purchasing a separate data security kit. These types of kits are available to provide varying levels of security, ranging from a single overwrite of every deleted file to a seven-wipe overwrite of every file.

Secure your port:
You can also consult with LOC about securing the port leading into the copy machine to make sure no unauthorized users can access the machine.

Check for operating system vulnerabilities:
Modern copy machines have operating systems that technically could become vulnerable to hackers if they gain entry to your network. These operating systems are largely proprietary, however, making them unlikely targets for exploitation. Even so, it is a good idea to check for known vulnerabilities on the National Vulnerability Database, a service provided by the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Consider your copier’s physical access:
Many businesses locate their copy machine in a separate room, however to reduce the risk of document theft, consider placing your copy machine in a high traffic area. The more eyes are on the machine, the less likely it is that someone will be able to steal your documents or information unnoticed. However, if there are departments that handle more sensitive information, consider putting these copy machines in a location with limited access, and further protect the machine’s documents by requiring a passcode for authorized users only.

Update your passwords:
This may seem obvious, but it bears mentioning. When you first set up your copy machine, be sure to update all passwords from their default settings. For instance, copiers that have a web interface for configuration or access to stored addresses will have this interface password-protected. Find these passwords and change them when you first get the machine and periodically as you continue to use it.

Copiers are vulnerable, but Les Olson Company is prepared to combat that. Contact us today so we can help protect your business against cyber attacks.[/cz_title][cz_gap height=”30px” id=”cz_62034″]

When those lines appear, it can be frustrating and even seem like a bigger problem than it actually is. However, rest assured, there is no need to check the toner or tinker with your copier’s settings; the source of this common copier fail is simple. Ninety percent of the time, it’s just dust. And, the even better news is that you can fix it with an equally simple hack, by using a common cleaner all offices will have on hand.

But first, let’s take a closer look at how your copier works and why those annoying lines or dots show up on your copies in the first place. Dust is inevitable, yet it is crucial for your copier to be dust-free in order to work properly. And this is especially true when it comes to the glass surface of a copier’s scanner.

While a dust particle is typically so small it’s hardly visible to the naked eye, it is big enough to actually cast a shadow as your copier scans your documents. That explains the dots, but what about the streaks? How can dust cause such a big shadow?

This is where it is important to be familiar with how your copier works. There are actually two scanning surfaces for documents. A common mistake is to look for dust on the larger glass scanning area on the copier. But this isn’t where this particular streaking problem originates.

Streaks happen not from dust on the larger glass scanning surface, but on the smaller scanner that reads your documents as they are fed into the copier. When dust gets on the thin slit of glass that scans copies as your original document slides through, a single dust particle can cause a huge line streak. What happens is that the particle casts a shadow that will streak all the way across the paper as it slides through the scanner mechanism.

Most of the time the streaks are dark, but occasionally they could be a different color, maybe yellow or blue. Why does this happen? It is the same culprit: dust. The copy machine is simply trying to read the image and these different colors appear based on how the light is refracting around the dust particles.

The location of the dust is important to note, because you need to know where to clean to rid your documents from these blemishes. Now that you’ve identified the source, you can get down to business, and get rid of those streaks and dots for good. But how?

What you use to clean up this dust might come as a surprise, but it is something your office will have in abundance, especially during cold and flu season. The solution to this simple but annoying speckled-and-streaky problem is hand sanitizer. Well, hand sanitizer, a clean cloth and a little bit of elbow grease.

Because you are looking at cleaning a glass surface, it seems logical that a glass cleaner, like Windex, would do the best job. However, while glass cleaners are good at removing dirt, dust requires a different approach.

Hand sanitizer’s active ingredient is typically some type of antiseptic solvent like ethyl alcohol. While known for its antiseptic properties, ethyl alcohol is also a drying agent that works well as a surface cleaner, breaking the bonds that adhere dust to a surface. This is how hand sanitizer kills germs: it dries them out.

This drying property is why hand sanitizer is recommended by cleaning experts to dust other surfaces. Try it on your eyeglasses or even to revive delicate home decor items, like old candles.

Hand sanitizer is something that is typically kept in abundance in offices, so it should be readily available should your copier’s scanners need cleaning. (And if you are out, run—don’t walk—to the store and get some more!) But if, for some reason, your office is out of hand sanitizer and your copies are coming out streaked or dotted, you can try glass cleaner. It just won’t work as well as hand sanitizer. Also, whichever one you choose to use, rest assured that neither hand sanitizer nor glass cleaner will harm your copier.

How can you avoid getting the streaks on your copies in the first place? Since ninety percent of streaks on copies are from dust particles, and most of which come from pen ink and white-out, make sure you send clean documents through your copier. If your original documents have pen or ink marks, it will save you a headache if you take the extra step to make these changes to your electronic copy in a word processor before you send them through your copier.

Still have lines? Contact our service department, we can help![/cz_title][cz_gap height=”60px”]

Sharp MX-3050N vs. Konica Minolta bizhub C308

WINNER: Sharp MX-3050N

Compared to the Konica Minolta bizhub C308, the Sharp MX-3050N delivers faster printing, a higher black cartridge yield for fewer interruptions, along with standard features like USB printing and scanning, and Serverless Print Release technology. When the Sharp product is configured similarly to the Konica Minolta device, with additional paper drawers, wireless connectivity, and Adobe PostScript 3, the device is significantly less expensive. All things considered, the Sharp MX-3050N delivers greater value than the Konica Minolta bizhub C308.

Advantages:

• More standard features, greater value
• Faster copy/print speed
• Faster warm-up time
• Available PostScript expansion kit and Pantone Color matching
• Standard Serverless Print Release for enhanced security
• Toner auto-eject to ensure toner cartridges can’t be replaced until completely empty, reducing toner waste
  • Higher toner cartridge yeilds
• Intuitive, user-friendly interface that can be customized to your needs
• Highly Recommended and Reliability Certified by Buyers Laboratory

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#1 Free Supply Delivery

If your current vendor doesn’t offer free supply delivery, you should really look into some other options. Sure, you could go pick up your supplies in their office, but you’re busy! A good copier vendor will bring supplies directly to you. This benefits you in many ways; it saves you time (and hassle), it saves you money (gas isn’t free) and it saves your back (seriously, have you lifted a case of paper before?). It seems like such a simple thing, but removing the burden of supply management can make a big difference in your busy work day.

#2 Free Ongoing Product Training

It’s hard to ensure everyone in your office knows how to use your copier effectively. In fact, there are probably features on your copier that no one will ever know how to use…features that could help your whole business run more efficiently. There are few things worse than having the job of “internal copier trainer” simply because you either purchased it, or know how to use it better than most. It’s time consuming and an ongoing job, since new hires and department transfers usually need copier help. That’s why it’s important that your copier vendor provides ongoing training on your copier. This can help get new users up to speed on the basic functions of your copy equipment, and also help everyone in your office work more efficiently by learning more of the functions your copier is capable of. The copier training provided should be free, comprehensive and available to anyone in your office – whenever it’s needed and for as long as you own your copier.

Those are two helpful things that can help free up your time for other important jobs. At Les Olson Company, we’re proud to offer free supply delivery within in our service area, and ongoing product training for the life of any copier purchased from us.[/cz_title]