Windows Color Management in Control Panel Settings?

Question

I know enough to disable color management in the printer driver when I enable my photo editing software (PS Elements) to handle color management.
However, what should thecorrect setting for Color Management be in the Windows 7 Control Panel.
Assuming I have selected my printer in the device setting and have uploaded the ICC profile for my printer in = Windows Color Management in the Control Panel
do I check the box next to "Use my settings for this device" ?
do I select "Automatic (recommended)" or "Manual" in the Profile Selection box ?
do I check  "Use as Default Profile" for my paper's ICC profile ?
or will my graphics program automatically override all the settings in Windows Color Management in the Control Panel?
If the graphics program does not override the Windows control panel settings,  what is the proper  permutation of settings.
Thanks

Answer 1

Good question seweavermm.
Access to video card control (if available) is typically done through either System Preferences on a Mac or the Control Panel on a PC.  The good news is that since you don't know how to do this then it is high probability it is in default mode and is a moot point.  It is my understanding that not too many video cards have  settings that are not reset by the by the actual calibration process itself yet put this step in for completeness.  The more important and common condition that must be done is setting the monitor to a condition that is stable and allows access to its full gamut.  I suggest to read the details of the instruction manual for the OSD controls for your monitor to verify that the default conditions meet those chacterisitcs.  Typical gotchas would be defaulting to sRGB color space which would limit the colors you could see or having a mode set that does anything dynamic such as scene adjusted brightness.  Another gotcha is when the monitor and software allow adjusting brightness for the ambient light - best to control the ambient light and have the monitor at a constant brightness so as not to invalidate any calibration/profiling done with the monitor.  Note that changing any OSD settings and fiddling with monitor conditions invalidates the calibration done as the calibration is only valid for the fixed conditions of the monitor at the time of calibration.  That was a lot more then the question you asked yet wanted to put things in perspective.  Hope this helps.