Same problem on my laptop with dapper. 95% use of cpu by gnome-cups- icon. System very slow. I didn't add a printer (no use of gnome-cups- manager).
-- gnome-cups-icon constantly uses >75% of CPU https://launchpad.net/bugs/45421 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs