Using Control Panel --> Printers and Faxes I set the default printer to my
Brother HL-2170W laser printer by right clicking on it's icon then "set as
default printer". Upon re-boot the default printer has been automatically
reset to my HP-PSC1300 ink jet printer. How do I make my prefered printer
selection stick?

Note, left or right clicking on Brother printer icon does not produce a "set
as default printer" messages in printer task, top left pane.

One or more options/settings in an ever-growing number of third-party
applications may be disallowing the changes from "sticking." These include
anti-spyware applications (e.g., Ad-aware's Ad-Watch, Spybot Tea Timer,
SpywareBlaster, SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor, CounterSpy, WinPatrol, etc),
anti-virus applications & security suites (Norton, McAfee, ESET/NOD32,
Kasperky, Trend Micro, etc.), and third-party firewalls (e.g., Zone Alarm,
etc.).

Note that temporarily disabling the application(s) or rebooting into Safe
Mode may not disable the application's system protections.

PSRumbagh wrote:
> Using Control Panel --> Printers and Faxes I set the default printer to my
> Brother HL-2170W laser printer by right clicking on it's icon then "set as
> default printer". Upon re-boot the default printer has been automatically
> reset to my HP-PSC1300 ink jet printer. How do I make my prefered printer
> selection stick?
>
> Note, left or right clicking on Brother printer icon does not produce a
> "set
> as default printer" messages in printer task, top left pane.

PSRumbagh wrote:
> Using Control Panel, Printers and Faxes I set the default printer to my
> Brother HL-2170W laser printer by right-clicking on its icon, then "set as
> default printer". Upon re-boot the default printer has been automatically
> reset to my HP-PSC1300 ink jet printer. How do I make my preferred printer
> selection stick?
>
> Note, left or right clicking on Brother printer icon does not produce a "set
> as default printer" messages in printer task, top left pane.

Two things to try:

- Remove, then reinstall the Brother printer.

- http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Line 30. Windows XP Doesn't Save User Settings

--
Joe =o)

I used the "Restore Wizard" to restore my laptop to a date before this
problem started, i.e. restore to 8 January 2010. Printer setting now
"sticks". Also, some unknown icons in the system tray vanished after the
restore (good). These problems seemed to start after a McAfee spyware update
from AOL in late January.

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:

> One or more options/settings in an ever-growing number of third-party
> applications may be disallowing the changes from "sticking." These include
> anti-spyware applications (e.g., Ad-aware's Ad-Watch, Spybot Tea Timer,
> SpywareBlaster, SpySweeper, Spyware Doctor, CounterSpy, WinPatrol, etc),
> anti-virus applications & security suites (Norton, McAfee, ESET/NOD32,
> Kasperky, Trend Micro, etc.), and third-party firewalls (e.g., Zone Alarm,
> etc.).
>
> Note that temporarily disabling the application(s) or rebooting into Safe
> Mode may not disable the application's system protections.
>
> PSRumbagh wrote:
> > Using Control Panel --> Printers and Faxes I set the default printer to my
> > Brother HL-2170W laser printer by right clicking on it's icon then "set as
> > default printer". Upon re-boot the default printer has been automatically
> > reset to my HP-PSC1300 ink jet printer. How do I make my prefered printer
> > selection stick?
> >
> > Note, left or right clicking on Brother printer icon does not produce a
> > "set
> > as default printer" messages in printer task, top left pane.
>
> .
>