Preton Print and Save
What is it? An application that will save you printer ink or toner
Download size: 899KB (installer file)
Total download size - about 5MB

Numerous times, I've been tempted to type "Freeware pickle of the week" but that has a myriad of connotations, none of which I'll elaborate upon here. Suffice it to say, we're the last generation of wanton, wasteful, wonderchildren. Possibly our children and most certainly grandchildren are going to have to live in world where cars run on something other than the decayed remains of prehistoric plants and animals. While I personally doubt that all the oil and coal we've been burning up as if we had an endless supply, actually are the remains of prehistoric plants, a bunch of vastly more intelligent folks than I, say it is. I have my own theory - space aliens stored it here long ago, and they're going to VERY livid when they return for it in 2012. Yes, that's why the world will end in 2012, but I'm not sure of the date. If you see big green things that look like hot dogs flying over your city, those won't be flying clones of the Wienie Mobile made famous by Oscar Meyer (and sons) but alien craft come to recover the coal, oil, natural gas, and Facebook patent - they left here during the Hopistic period, just a few moments before the dinosaurs came and ate almost all of our ancestors. The keyword there is "almost". And you know, for those who really do believe that all the oil and coal came from the remains of prehistoric plants and animals, be thankful that the dinosaurs didn't invent cremation.

All this has nothing to do with our freeware pick of the week really, but I'm really good at segues; so watch me make it flow.

We're running out of everything - oil, coal, clean air, even patience. Not hospital patients, but patience nonetheless. You know me, I'll use up whatever I have until it's gone - if I can't get anymore of whatever I used up, I'll find something else to use. I'm not an environmentalist - the world's not in bad shape because of me. I use my share of electricity, and burn up more than my fair share of gasoline and natural gas. My theory is I'm too old to care - we ain't gonna run out of stuff in my lifetime, so to future generations, I say "Let them eat cake." I don't think the queen of Iceland ever said that - France? OK I don't think the queen of France ever said it either. Ben Franklin, that sage old coot who has probably himself turned to coal or oil right now, once said that necessity is the mother of invention. No one knew who its father was, but you can speculate.

I am not an environmentalist, no way. I leave TVs running all night, to kill the ringing in my ears. I leave lights on all night to scare away the boogey man and so if I open my eyes in the middle of the night I won't think I've suddenly lost my sight. The only thing I conserve is the little money I have. So it only makes sense that I should start turning off my lights night (scared to!) and turning off the TV before I go to sleep (scared to!). My number one pet peeve today is my printer. It is more wasteful than I am on my most reckless, wanton day. The thing thinks there is an unlimited supply of ink, and that I have an unlimited supply of money to feed it more ink. Neither is true; but the only one I care about is the latter. I print stuff, read it once, leave it lying around until it gets yellow and has rings on it from pop and beer cans, and then I throw it away. I don't need archive-quality pages from my printer. I just need stuff like recipes for beer-basted buffalo tongue, or whisky-drenched quail, or chicken a la vino en croquettes, or how to brew sixty-proof beer - stuff like that. Once I use it, I'll probably crumple it up and throw it away - or shred it, depending on how "sensitive" the content is. I sure don't want to keel over and have someone come into my house going through my stuff and finding I spent hours googling "bogeymen" or "how to muffle the ringing in your ears." I'd look like a kook - a weirdo and all the neighbors would find out and say - "See Ellen, I told you that guy was a wacko!". Although when I think about that, I realize I'd be dead and won't really care what anyone thinks. All my worldly issues behind me, I'll probably miss the boat across the River Styx and have new, more urgent issues than whether or not my neighbors' suspicions were confirmed.

Anyway, my printer gulps ink. And ink is expensive. And I don't have tons of money. So it just doesn't seem right that I have to pay $28 for more ink, when I can buy a whole new printer for $35. That's besides the point, which I am positive by now, you think I don't have. But I do. The point is that there's a program you can download that lets you save up to 70% of the ink you use by adjusting a little slider-bar up or down. The higher you slide it, the more ink you save.

See? I told you I do nice segues.

To make an increasingly long intro shorter, I bring into the foray, the program's developer, whose name is, I assume Mr. Preton (or Ms. Preton). So without further blubbering, I hereby introduce you to Mr. or Ms. Preton to tell you about his or her software.

"Preton's ink saver software supports all ink-jet printers and laser printers. This green printing software is easy-to-use, all you have to do is install and print. Compare Preton to ink save options for printers and ink saving software options..."

It works with everything!
All formats: documents, presentations, photos – everything!
Any printer type: inkjet and laser jet printers
Any standard model: HP, EPSON, Canon, Lexmark, Xerox…and more!
It’s easy to install and easy to use!
No setup
No registration
No instructions required!
Adjust cost-saving levels for each print job between 0%-70%
Automatically omit pictures and graphics
Set your savings levels per format type (text vs. photo)
Supports Windows® XP SP2 and up, Vista or Windows® 7 (32bit and 64bit)
Dramatically reduces toner and ink usage
Provides up to 70% cost savings while maintaining print quality
Prints more than double the pages per ink or toner cartridge
Easy to install, easy to use
Safe installation: No Adware, No Spyware, No Malware

WAIT! Before you go off downloading this freeware program, save yourself some aggravation. You need a registration key. So right after you download it is, but before you install it, go get a free key. You'll need to enter a name and an email address. And the email address has to be a real one because that's where they'll send the key. OK? Here is the page where you can get a free license for Preton.

There you have it. All you need to know is right before your bloodshot eyes. Keep in mind that this software is free right now, but only for a limited time - you can be sure once it gets as popular as it will surely become - because it's great stuff - Mr. or Ms. Preton will start charging for it. So if you're reading this in 2014 or something, this was written in 2011 OK? Don't be firing off nasty emails to us complaining about this. Don't write stuff like: "You idiots, you're wrong again! This thing ain't free!" It's free now. Free on this day in 2011. I am not a soothsayer or a weight-guesser. I'm a man with bogeymanphobia and ringing my ears, even when I haven't been drinking beer.

I am done now. You can read more about Preton's Print and Save software by visiting this page. It's 100% freeware - and 100% great. Free until Mr. or Ms. Preton decides it's not. Get it now and you won't be disappointed.