Stop Word XP from Crashing When You Print
The Problem:
I opened my document in Word XP, checked the header, chose File 
Print, clicked the OK button, and boom! Word flatlined, and I got an apology for the "inconvenience." I tried it again, and the same thing happened. What's going on here?
The Solution:
When background printing is switched on, Word XP is a mite sensitive to your editing headers and footers, working with comments, or running macros that return document information (for example, the number of pages) before printing. Having text boxes or multiple sections in the document makes things worse.
The immediate solution is to turn off background printing: choose Tools (see Figure 6-1) Options, click the Print tab, and uncheck the "Background printing" box. Save the document and try printing again. For a more long-term fix, install Office XP Service Pack 3or better still, upgrade to Office 2003, which is less buggy as a whole.
Figure 6-1. Turning off background printing means you have to wait longer before resuming your work, but it helps you avoid certain crashes in Word XP.
