Printing problems- vista ultimate printer not communicating with c

since the first day I installed vista ultimate, i have not been able to
print (without problems). from word, if i click print ,it tells me word is
not responding, then i click cancel , then wait 2 minutes and it finally
prints.

if it is a pdf and has to print something via adobe acrobat ...... it takes
forever to bring up the print screen, then once i click"print" i am waiting
til for ever again to actually get it to print...... unless it tells me not
responding.. then im out of luck

sometimes it prints ....sometimes it doesnt
p.s my computer is brand new and powerful machine, there should be no reason
i should wait 2 min to print a doc ( with my fingers crossed)

any suggestions??