Trying to print from Windows using Parallels 4.0 under Mac OS X Snow Leopard and getting the error message “pstopdffilter/pstocupsraster failed with err number -31000″?

I spent a fair while Googling for a solution to this before stumbling across the answer: turn your printer off and back on. That’s it. No reinstalling drivers, adding or removing printers or playing with settings – just a good old fashioned power cycle. It’s nice to know some things never change

Hat tip to Walt-O-Matic for the answer.

I was printing from Microsoft Office Word, via a networked HP C4480 printer on Windows Server 2008 via an Airport Extreme.

Remove or disable Windows Search Indexer: If like me you are unfortunate enough to have to work on a machine with Windows Vista from time to time – then you may also be annoyed with Windows Search Indexer which will happily munch up your RAM and CPU whenever it feels like it!

It took me a while to work out how to kill/disable it so for anyone else out there who wants to know:

1. Click Start > Control Panel
2. Go to Click System and Maintenance
3. In Control Panel Home view, click Administrative Tools
4. Double-click Service (If asked for permission just continue)
5. Find “Windows Search” in the list
6. Right click and hit Properties
7. Click Stop
8. Select Disable from the drop-down next to Startup Type
9. Click Apply and OK

Enjoy your RAM and CPU! (Or whats left after Vista is done with it!)