Whenever I try to print a document or BURN a cd/dvd, the program attempting to do so will INSTANTLY freeze. I expect the two must be related because they happen in exactly the same fashion; as soon as I press the print button(in the case of burning it happens when I attempt to access the disk, but only if I access it with a burning program), the program freezes and stops responding, but windows continues to work as normal. For large documents, Acrobat will also suffer a similar problem, even if I don't try to print them.

This only began to happen yesterday, and I do not believe I installed anything between the last time I was able to print successfully and when the problem STARTED; if there was anything, it was either an update to windows, open office, or java. I also do not believe the problem to be a virus or such because I have both virus software and a firewall; the virus software--McAfee--failed to find anything with a complete scan. It is possible there is a problem with an INACTIVE windows service, but I find this UNLIKELY because any services I disabled were disabled several months ago. I have restarted but have not tried reinstalling drivers.

I have windows vista home premium 32 bit service pack 1, 3gb ram(I don't have company or speed on hand, I can find out if necessary), an intel q6700 processor, a geforce 5500 512mb video card, and a Seagate 750gb hard drive on which windows is installed. My printer is a lexmark z2490 and is hooked up over usb; my dvd/cd burner is internal Toshiba brand(I can get model number if needed) and is hooked up over SATA.

I'm sorry my question is so vague. Thank you.This just started yesterday right?
Have you tried System Restore?Ah, always forget about that.

It did the trick alright, thank you.