Windows 7: excel & word 2007 takes 5 mins to print-sometimes 'not responding'...

windows 7 home premiun 64 bit.. office professional plus, all software is legit & upto date (service packs 1 & 2)
there are 2 printers, 1 is a samsung mono & prints perfect, instantly
printer 2 is an epson colour claria photo cd printer (forgot the model) 12 mths old.
whenever a document is opened & click print for the epson the program just spins (hangs) for 3-5 mins then prints, or the program is not responding ?
the program is excel or word... all drivers are installed, word has been uninstalled & reinstalled - so has the epson drivers
so, the only problem is printing with the epson ? connected via usb-default printer, the only printer as well....
i've tried everything except a large hammer...
full uninstalls too, including registry... any help or pointers would be well recieved....

hello hixx,

The first printer prints well, but the epson takes a long time from what I gather. I just want to say that word/excel becoming "unresponsive" during these printing problems is normal, and is not reflective of problems within those programs. It just means it is taking too long a time to gather information or find the device. It could be the wrong driver for the printer. Did you install the most recent 32 bit driver for it?

Also, within the printing preferences, you can select an option to 'optimize for speed' and/or select print quality as high speed in order to print more quickly.

Under Printer properties, there should be an option to spool print documents, and find an option to "print immediately". See if this helps.

Thanks for that dustsailor.... i'll let you know if there are any changes..