my jaw just dropped because uninstalling and reinstalling the printer is infinitely easier than deleting a spooled print job :-) go into your Printers and Faxes or Printers and Devices folder, right click the printer and choose delete (XP) or Remove Device (7 and 8). Unplug the USB cable and restart Windows. Plug the printer back into the computer and follow the installation wizard. If prompted to pop in the driver installation disk, do so.

These days, a printer is almost a disposable item. You can sometimes get a new printer cheaper than the cost of 2 ink cartridges. The downside of your situation is that you don't know if the printer you buy today will be compatible with Win8 when it is released. When Win8 is released, printers that are compatible with it probably won't be discounted much...if at all. I have an HP Officejet 4500 which does an ok job of print-copy-scan-fax and is available in both wired and wireless. It does not tolerate off-brand ink cartridges but it does work well. It might be okay to get you to the day when you get a Win8 computer and a printer that works with it.

I would try recycling (starting and stopping) the print spooler and RPC services if I were you. Open Control Panel and then open Administrative Tools and then Services. The services are in alpha order so find Print Spooler, right click on it and select Stop,,,wait until it's stopped, then right click and select Start. Repeat the step with Remote Procedure Call (RPC). Try again to install the printer, by unplugging the USB from the computer side, restarting Windows and then plugging it back in. If the steps to clear the print spooler don't work, there are some more detailed instructions for doing this through the run line that I can provide if needed.

How is the printer connected USB or wifi ? Will it print a test page; 1 Open the Dell Printer Home by clicking or Start, All Programs, Dell Printers, then click Dell Printer Home. 2 In Dell Printer Home, make sure the correct printer model appears in the pulldown window at the top. 3 Click the Maintenance Tab and click Print Test Page.