Ok, what I've been doing with my HP Photosmart 8050, even after all the wonderful discussion and Q and A's from folks lots smarter than me, is this: In Preferences, I change the "Printing Shortcuts" to General Everyday Printing (the default is, on mine anyway, is Custom Print Settings. THEN I go to the tab that says "Color" and click Print in Greyscale, and I click Use Black Ink Only. Now, I am SURE that my color cartridge is not going down as quickly as it was before I even found you folks. Also, probably what I'm doing is not altogether correct, or maybe too many steps, blah-blah-blah, but so far is works for me. It's obvious I don't print alot, so it's not a big deal to do it...Can't get hubby to do it, tho, and he's the one that prints the most! Good luck, Mary In a message dated 12/22/2008 12:06:01 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,