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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon Apps
HP recently released version 6.3.4 of its drivers for the HP 6100 All-in-One printer/scanner. After installing the new drivers, the HP Director program will launch on every log-in. To keep the program from launching on every log-in, you can go to System Preferences -> Accounts -> Startup Items and delete it from the log-in list. With an ordinary program, that would be the end of the problem.

However, HP has put in an annoying, hidden program which, if you delete HP Director from your log-in list, will install the HP Director program icon into your Dock on every log-in (without launching the program), even if you don't want it there. If you remove the icon from your Dock, you'll find it re-installed the next time you log in. HP seems to think that they have the right to decide which icons belong in your Dock.

To solve this problem, go to Applications -> Hewlett Packard -> HP Photo and Imaging Software -> HP Photo and Imaging Director and delete the file called "Director Docker." Then, delete the unwanted icon from your Dock and log out. Voila ... next time you log in, your Dock will no longer have an unwelcome icon.
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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon | 18 comments | Create New Account
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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: cg on Feb 20, '04 11:45:06AM

Has anyone had any luck using a Parallel to USB adapter to use this printer on OS X? I have a friend who purchased this printer for her PC, and now she's in love with the Mac (she uses one at work). My friend and I are setting up an older Mac for her, and we wanted to get her printer working under OS X.

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Romans 8
is Great!!!



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: Jay on Feb 20, '04 12:37:24PM
Looks like Keyspan's USB Parallel Printer adapter is what you need.

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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: mcmarks on Feb 21, '04 07:14:49AM

Why would you need an adaptor? The 6100 only has a USB port and Macs don't have parallel ports.



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: Jay on Feb 20, '04 12:34:11PM

What an annoying Windows-y problem. This alone will steer me clear of HP products.



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: cawaker on Feb 20, '04 12:44:12PM

Yeah I'm with ya on that one, if any app forces itself on me, I'd avoid it liek the plauge.



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: semios on Feb 20, '04 05:33:52PM

It nicely illustrates a key difference between Macintosh and Windows culture. In so far as what is acceptable, indeed expected, on the Windows side of the fence is found completely unpalatable on the Macintosh side. There was a great article on this, but I can't seem to find it again.



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: jason [thebox] on Feb 21, '04 11:39:04AM

yeah that HAS to be annoying..

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Jason - Creative Box
http://www.creativebox.net



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: thornrag on Apr 04, '04 01:17:40PM

It doesn't stop there. Not only is their software pushy, intrusive, and belligerent, it's the least-flexible *printer driver* I've ever seen on the Mac.

Laptop users be warned: don't expect to happily plug and unplug your *USB* printer and your Powerbook. It's a documented issue that if you unplug your HP USB Multifunction printer, the software loses its connection to the device and the only way to restore it is to reboot!

It's freaking USB! How is it tolerable that what should be a hot-pluggable device is not in fact hot-pluggable? It's utterly unworkable for portable users. And of course, you won't find out until after you set the damn thing up.

Where is the outrage? It's as if our society has been beaten into submission to accept third-rate products like this. The revolution of lowered expectations is well underway. UGH.



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: thornrag on Apr 04, '04 11:42:45PM

And let's NOT forget that the installer refuses to do a thing unless you QUIT ALL RUNNING APPLICATIONS, even in OS X! There's so little reason for this that it boggles my mind. I've sent HP a couple of complaints just because it crosses my mind how irritating it is. And now I'm trying to set up my girlfriend's computer, and I'm embarassed for her to have to witness this travesty. "hey! You can install without restarting things, not like windows!"

Except, WAIT....

The software sucks as bad on the MAC as it does in WINDOWS!

::pulls out hair screaming::



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Possible issues
Authored by: SOX on Feb 20, '04 12:48:34PM

I have an HP5510 a simmilar all-in-one, scan print fax copy.
It appears it runs daemons as well and the dock program. quiting the dock program does not stop the daemons. What I'm trying to figure out is if the dock program is not running it seems like the scan features of the printer dont work. restarting it seem to produce irreproducible results. And what the heck is that daeomon doing?

So the question is can I get rid of the program and daemon and somehow restart them when I occasionally need to scan something?


unrelated question. I recently refilled my HP 56 and HP (66)57 print cartriges. I followed the directions which gave a modestly complicated recipie for placing tape over certain pins on the cartrige, inserting this into the machine and printing test pages. this was supposed to fool the printer into re-reading the ink-level and reseting it back to full. So far Ihave had no luck persuading the printer its cartriges are full. it works fine it just warns me they are empty.



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Possible issues
Authored by: chanamasala on Feb 21, '04 05:17:46PM

I refill mine and I tried that too to no avail.



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I have the same problem
Authored by: porkchop_d_clown on Feb 21, '04 11:01:38PM

I got one from work as part of a "work from home" kit - so now the kids get the stupid icon when they want to play "reader rabbit" and, as a bonus, you still can't share the printer unless you're actually logged in.

In other words, with my old epson 740, all I had to do to print remotely was turn on the printer and the iMac it was hooked up to. With the HP, I have to turn on the printer, the iMac and then log in before I can print from my powerbook.

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Everyone loves a clown, but no one will lend him money!



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I have the same problem
Authored by: aranor on Feb 23, '04 06:24:34AM

Reader Rabbit? Wow. I played that game as a kid!



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Possible issues
Authored by: pdxblackboot on Feb 25, '04 02:55:22AM

Note to self. Refilling cartridges from those "kits" is not the best idea. In fact, if you are using Epson, the warranty is completely voided if you do so. The ink quality is poorer, and it tends to dirty up the printer. Also, with most printers now, you get a new print head with the new cartridge, which is really important if you are at all worried about quality.



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: deleted_user18 on Feb 21, '04 05:01:26PM

I know why I will never buy anything from HP...

Thanks for the warning again...



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It's a shame.
Authored by: porkchop_d_clown on Feb 21, '04 11:03:34PM

It's a shame. Once I was willing to pay extra for HP because of the incredibly high quality of their equipment. Sadly, that was long ago.

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Everyone loves a clown, but no one will lend him money!



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Also works on other model HP Scanner Software
Authored by: MrMatt on Mar 22, '04 07:54:58PM

I used this hint to remove the HP Software that was being autostarted with a HP scanjet 4670 and worked.



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Eliminate the HP 6100 printer's self-restoring dock icon
Authored by: genericuser on Oct 13, '05 09:06:36PM

Actually, there's a much simpler solution that doesn't involve deleting any files... just left-click on the HP Director dock icon to bring the application to the front (which also displays the context menu), then look for "Preferences..." in the menubar. There is one option in the tiny preferences dialog: "Activate Dock Menu Item at Login." After unchecking this box, the icon no longer reappears uninvited in my dock. I think I also removed the director from my list of login items at some point using the Accounts Preference Pane.



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