Programs stop responding when I try to print to PDF

Question

Info on what I'm using:
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium, SP1, 64-bit
Using Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional, version 8.1.0, up to date on updates
In this example, Microsoft Office 2007, no add-ons besides the Adobe Acrobat add-in that allows the creation of a PDF (but happens in all programs)
Problem:
I have always created a PDF from a Word/Excel document by printing to PDF (File --> Print --> Select Adobe PDF as printer --> Hit OK). Generally, the next step that occurs is a dialog box appearing that prompts me to select the location where I want to save the PDF and to specify a file name. Several weeks ago, this process stopped working. Now when I hit "Ok" to print to PDF, no dialog box appears and whatever program I'm in freezes/stops responding. Aside: I have tried printing to PDF from several other programs to see if the problem occurs in those as well, and it does -- printing to PDF freezes whatever program I am attempting to print from. (For example, MS Paint, Internet Explorer, Firefox, even Notepad)
Bullet point summary of what I have tried:
Canceling the print jobs in the Adobe PDF printer under "Devices and Printers" (jobs say they are canceling but never clear from the print queue unless I go into Services and restart my print spooler) and reprinting (freezes again)
Restarting computer (had no effect)
Setting Adobe PDF as my default printer (had no effect)
Setting TrueType font as "Native TrueType" under the Adobe PDF printer properties (Layout --> Advanced --> PostScript Options) (suggested in another thread I read about this problem; had no effect)
Checking to make sure that Word had not "adjusted" the security settings for the Adobe add-in (disabling it) under the Trust Center (Adobe add-in was still enabled, so nothing to change there)
Changing the printer properties to print directly to the printer rather than spooling first (had no effect)
Saving as PDF using File --> Save As --> Selecting PDF as file type (does work and is an acceptable substitute except when I need to convert multiple files to PDF at once and don't have time to go in to each individual file and convert it separately)
Repairing the Acrobat installation from within Adobe or from the Programs and Features menu under the Control Panel (does work, did fix the problem; but see followup below).
Repairing the Acrobat installation worked when I did it a few weeks ago. Once I went through the process, I attempted to print a document to PDF and it worked. But this morning when I attempted to print another document to PDF, it froze Word again and has been doing that ever since, so it does not seem to be a permanent fix. I had succesfully printed several documents to PDF this morning before it stopped working; the document I printed to PDF immediately before the document that froze was the exact same as the document froze in every way except the actual text (formatting, document objects, etc.). So I don't think it was something in the content of the document that "broke" the Adobe PDF printer.
I am sure I can try repairing the Adobe installation again, but I really do not want to have to do that all of the time. Does anyone know what the problem is? I haven't found anything that explains what's going on.

Answer 1

Anyone?