All Printers Require Good Preventive Maintenance.
The number one complaint about poor print quality, specifically streaking print, white lines through the print, or no print at all, can be avoided by frequent use of your printer. These print problems are caused by ink drying up in the print head or nozzles, clogging them and preventing ink from reaching the paper. If you don't use your printer regularly you can help keep it in working order by printing a test page or running a print head cleaning cycle once a week. Consult your printer's manual for additional or more specific preventative maintenance tips.
Power down properly
Always use your printer's power switch rather than the switch on a surge protector to shut the unit down. Most ink jet printers have a print head parking function that's triggered by the printer's own power switch. This ensures that your cartridges are 'sealed' properly and not exposed to the drying effects of ambient air.
Do not run back-to-back cleaning cycles
Give the cartridge a chance to let some ink flow in between cleaning cycles. This will purge air bubbles or foamy ink that a cleaning cycle may have created. Print a test page or a color balanced image. If the printing quality hasn't improved, run another cleaning cycle and test it again. Repeat the process as often as needed.