A very good point that many occasional welders forget. Turn on the gas at the regulator, turn on your welder then hit the trigger for a couple seconds. Snip the excess wire off and you're good to go.
Although a lot of people don't do it, try to get in the habit of snipping off the little ball on the end of the wire before starting each weld. This is actually contaminated metal that will contaminate your weld. Yes, its a nuisance.
If you're not interested in wasting wire (not that it's much to purge the lines), pop open the side of the welder and lift up the drive roller, squeeze the trigger on the gun for a couple seconds and replaced the drive roller. But as mentioned, it is important to have gas at the gun the second you start welding.
Or turn the wire speed setting to Zero... if you have that capability.
