As I author this text, I wonder over the relevancy of it: consider Windows XP Scanner and Camera Wizard was released, as intended for the general (likely, unskilled) home computer user, nearly a decade ago. Nevertheless, because of my infrequent use of any Document / Image Scanner, and the time (otherwise spent on more productive tasks) I tend to waste in experimenting with various combinations of the Scanner and Camera Wizard options for brightness and contrast, feeling the need to make note of my most recent session with the software, I believe the information below may be of use to others who might bewilder over any unsuccessful attempts to create a viable image (or document) from an original document with an image scanner device.

Specifics of The Activity

The Hardware Device

Although I am not a professional publisher, because of my professional employment history in entertainment publicity, mass media, professional photography, marketing and advertising, I probably have more experience with the PC device equipment necessary for image and document scanning than the average user. To ensure that the reader understands precisely what process is described here, the following is a list of the equipment I used just before writing this article.

Personal Computer

Mine is a typical PC, albeit built in recent years. I’m using an MSI Mbox 945GM3-F^[1], which I built with an Intel Pentium D processor, and other required basic Intel PC parts obtained through NewEgg.com. The processor is rated at 3.00Ghz, and it’s got 2GB RAM and I’ve got ample Gigabytes of hard-drive storage space wherein I maintain at least 15% free at any given time, the recommended standard for desired performance. At the date of this text, the system is likely rated as approaching obsolescence, with a relative performance rating of medium-fast. Street-lingo would claim, †it’s not a gamer’s box‡

As the title of this article implies, my Operating System is Windows XP SP3. However, this article likely to be relevant to Windows Vista, and Windows 7 users as well.

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Document / Image Scanner

I’m using an old scanner (I do not know its date of production). Mine is a UMAX Astra 3400, given to me by a friend. Perhaps he didn’t know it’s value, as it seems to perform as well as other scanners I’ve used (i.e. I’m able scan at DPI levels far above my needs, and the bay is large enough to accept US Legal-size original documents).

Of Thumb, Consider These Rules

It’s Not All Digital

Clean That Thing!

Take a good look at the physical surfaces of the Scanner device. What do you see? Dust? We hope there are no considerable scratches, but what about smudges? Have you touched it anytime after indulging in your favourite brand of corn-chips? Do you eat cookies near your workstation, such that a few crumbs might have fallen between the scanner lid, and the glass surface where a document is placed?

Set yourself up for success straight away, by ensuring all surfaces are clean, and free of debris. Use a safe household cleaning agent, and paper towels (to avoid leaving any fabric residue behind). If you have photographic lens cleaner, then use it, but otherwise, the aforementioned supplies should do fine. Do your best to remove anything which might distort the surface of the document or image to be scanned. For example, during this most recent scan job, I found that most of my first few test scans were rendering with a curious distortion in one of the paragraphs of the page text. Disappointed, I examined the original document to find the inconsistency did not exist there.

I had forgotten to do my preliminary cleaning! Sure enough, when I inspected the Scanner device, i found debris in precisely the area where I noticed the distortion in the test scans I’d rendered.

Had I performed the cleaning steps, as recommended above, before rendering the test-scans, I would have been one-step ahead, but instead I had wasted time to recall that cleaning is necessary. It was a case of trial-and-error, and basically extra work for the process because I’d forgotten a simple, but essential preparation. This very incident was the first inspiration for writing this article. As the saying goes: “Hind-sight is 20/20”. As one plans to avoid devastating break-down on an extended road-trip with a discriminate routine maintenance (i.e. vehicle dependability is critical to the success of any extended road trip, so the operator best practice for trouble-free engine performance a well-known, best practice for trouble-free engine performance best practice for trouble-free engine performance when the dependability of the vehicle is critical to the success of a trip, preparing a vehicle for lengthy travel, the road-worthy operator will ensure it passes a set of check-points, such as to confirm motor oil, transmission fluid, and coolant-system fluids are at appropriate levels, and stocks refills for preparedness if any of those levels change, or in the event of a break-down), If I can come back and read this in preparation for some scan job in the future, I will know to clean the device first. It may seem obvious, but any reminder is worthy when dealing with a process which can be time consuming, such as scanning several documents.

[1]Microstar International (MSI™), Barebones MSI Mbox 945GM3-F