Q. My wife and I are considering the purchase of an iPad and need to know if, in addition to receiving or sending email, it can send a signal to a wireless printer to print a document received by email. Are there special set-up instructions required to do this?

Also, we’re considering buying an MP3 music player. It appears that the iPhone can do everything that the iPod Touch does, plus act as a phone. Is there any reason I would not choose the iPhone over the iPod Touch?

Allan Schwartz

Ottawa

Printing wirelessly from an iPad should be easy, but sometimes it’s not. The iPad uses Apple software called AirPrint. Printers on a home Wi-Fi network that are AirPrint-enabled should show up on your iPad as available for printing. Apple compares some Epson and Hewlett-Packard printers that are AirPrint-enabled at www.tinyurl.com/8lx63zd.

But even if a printer is AirPrint-compatible, if the software it uses isn’t the most recent version, you can have problems. So you may have to download an update for your printer. This same update problem can also occur with your wireless router, which acts as an intermediary between the iPad and the printer.

You can also use non-AirPrint-enabled printers if there is a downloadable iPad printing app for them. In the iTunes app store, I saw iPad apps for HP, Brother, Canon and Lexmark printers.

Why would you buy an iPod Touch when an iPhone does more? No reason I can think of, provided that you want a new phone. The iPod’s functionality is incorporated into the iPhone.Q. When I use Comcast’s Web-based email at home, I get only the option of downloading an email attachment. I don’t want to download strange attachments to my computer, and I don’t want to download and then have to delete documents that I only need to read once.

I don’t know if this issue is caused by Windows 7, Internet Explorer 10, Norton security software or Comcast email. How can I get normal options on my emails?

Tom Reynen

Shoreview, Minn.

I understand your reluctance to download email attachments from sources you don’t know; they can house malicious software.

In this case, it appears that your inability to view rather than download an attachment is a Comcast email issue. Talk to Comcast’s technical help line to see if they can assist you (try 800-934-6489); I’ve had good luck with them.

But if they can’t solve your problem, I suggest getting a different Web email provider. Google’s free Gmail will allow you to either download an attachment or view it online without downloading it.