A small CMYK strip printed at the interval you choose keeps the printhead nozzles in use — preventive maintenance that helps prevent the clogging that hits people who rarely print. It runs on its own, even with the app closed.
Ink dries inside the nozzles when the printer sits idle for days. When you finally need it, the page comes out streaked — or blank.
A few weeks without printing is enough for ink to harden in the printhead nozzles. It is the most common failure in home and small-office ink tank printers.
A deep printhead cleaning flushes ink through every channel to clear the blockage — and does not always work the first time. Repeating the cycle uses far more ink than a test strip.
Keeping the nozzles in use with a small strip at regular intervals reduces the risk of ever reaching the deep-cleaning stage. That is what InkTankCare handles — on its own.
Installation and updates through Microsoft's own store. No administrator password required and a small footprint.
InkTankCare lists the printers installed in Windows — USB, Wi-Fi and network. Enable protection on the ones you want, one or all of them.
Set the interval and time. The app sits in the system tray, starts with Windows and shows the exact date and time of the next maintenance.
Brand-new interface in version 3.0, with light and dark themes following Windows.
The Overview panel shows when the last run happened and exactly when the next one is due. Each printer has its own cycle, and the history logs everything — automatic, manual, weekly or catch-up.
Track the estimated wear of the ink pad, with preventive alerts at 80% and 95%. It is an estimate calculated from the usage the app itself records — not a reading of the printer's internal counter — and it is available on Epson printers only.
Every action is logged with date, time, printer and result. Filter by printer or action type and see the distribution for the period — useful to confirm the routine is really running.
Each printer is listed with the monitoring modules that actually work on it — and the ones that do not are visibly switched off. No promises: the screen shows the truth about your hardware. Scheduled CMYK protection works on all of them.
One sheet with 52 boxes per printer. Each week you put the same sheet back in and the app prints that week's box in the exact position — a whole year of maintenance recorded on a single page.
This is what gets printed: a compact block with the four colors and a gradient that exposes nozzle failures, stamped with date and time. It uses little paper and little ink.
Read via SNMP, available only on compatible network printers.
Sits quietly next to the clock and starts with Windows.
The interface automatically follows your Windows theme.
Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.
Scheduled CMYK protection — the heart of the product — works on any inkjet printer installed in Windows. Monitoring, however, depends on the manufacturer and the connection. Check before you buy:
→ Swipe the table sideways to see all columns.
| Feature | Epson network | Epson USB | Other brands network | Other brands USB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled CMYK printing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Weekly log (52 boxes) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| History and scheduling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ink pad meter Estimate | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Ink levels (SNMP) | Compatible models | No | Compatible models | No |
Launch offer until 09/16/2026 · price in US dollars, one-time charge, no subscription
Requirements: Windows 10 version 1809 or later, or Windows 11 · the interface uses the WebView2 Runtime, already included in Windows 11 · payment and licensing handled by Microsoft.
Install it, pick your printer, switch protection on. After that, the routine runs by itself.
