Do you have a Lexmark printer or scanner installed? It’s not unlikely that you do, and certainly not unlikely that you’ve at least used one in the past. Lexmark remains arguably the most popular manufacturer of printers, and certainly one of the top competitors for other forms of imaging solutions.

Just like using any form of hardware, it’s important to keep your devices up to date with the latest and best software. And more specifically, drivers. When it comes to maintaining your hardware at its optimal performance levels, the Lexmark.com website will come in very handy. It’s here where you can download software updates, security patches, and basic fixes for each and every model in the Lexmark catalogue.

Unfortunately, it’s not always as simple as choosing your model and downloading a general fix. Compatibility issues can arise just as easily from downloading Lexmark drivers as they can from installing the printer or scanner in the first place.

More worryingly, back in 2004 there was a reported case of Lexmark installing spyware on it’s customers computers. Lexmark originally acknowledged that it had installed tracking software to view the usage of its printers and cartridges before reporting back to the company for statistical analysis.

Lexmark said no personal data was taken, but that was raised in to doubt considering users were asked to fill in a registration form for “their own benefit”. The files causing the controversy were tucked away in c:\program_files\lexmark500, and they reported back to an anonymous website at lxkcc1.com - which was found to be owned by Lexmark.

Needless to say, this was not well received and many users raised a backlash against Lexmark threatening to boycott the company altogether. If you believe that you’re having problems from an old Lexmark printer which is attempting to contact another site with its usage stats, you can remove the lexmark500 entries by accessing your registry directly.

This is only an issue from old models and it seems that Lexmark has since discontinued its policy. But if you’re downloading old updates, you may wish to ensure that the tracking stats are fully removed if privacy is such an issue.

Lexmark has also suffered from several of its patches being over-ridden by other printer software. If you’re trying to download the latest Lexmark updates from the Lexmark.com website, be aware that it’s always good practice to remove software and drivers from any other printers that you no longer use.

The conflicts between Lexmark and HP printers are extremely well documented and if you’re downloading updates, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the updates will fix all of your problems if the HP printer is still stored in the registry with similar counteractive DLL files.

Lexmark.com has slowly become more reliable over time, however, and the patches seem to be better geared towards fixing the hardware in question. If you’re still experiencing uncharacteristic behavior from your Lexmark printer or scanner, you can contact support directly through the Lexmark.com website. They will be happy to assist you with any known complications and help you troubleshoot the matter.