Scanners are easy to use, but slightly harder to use well!

With a little practice however, you will soon master all the techniques you need to produce perfect digital photos and images.

If you scan a picture at the right settings, for example, it will make it much quicker to send it by e-mail to a friend and it will look even better than the original!

First things first

So your lovely new scanner is sitting there in its cardboard box, and you're wondering where to begin.

Thankfully, installing new devices like this to your computer (known as 'peripherals') is an awful lot easier than it used to be.

Your computer should detect a new device as soon as it is plugged in, and there will generally be a handy step-by-step guide to follow.

Installing

It is important to read the guide carefully before you do anything else, and then unpack your scanner.

Place it on a strong, flat, level surface near your computer, and then plug it into your computer and the power, and install the scanner software which will come on a CD-Rom.

You will be led through this process by on-screen instructions, but if you are not sure at any stage, refer back to your guide.

Basics

Once the software is installed you are ready to rumble. Pictures can be scanned in simply by lifting up the scanner lid and laying the image face down onto the glass 'bed' of the scanner.

You should be able to see from rulers along the sides of the bed which corner to place an A4 sheet or other sizes so it will scan them properly.

A bit of experimentation will soon tell you this as well.