Opening Serial Ports with the MSComm control.

Opening serial ports using the MSComm control takes around .5 seconds. Closing the port also takes around the same time.

I have a program that needs to open 2 ports, print something, and then close both port before starting the program.

So far I have just disabled the main form and had a timer take care of it, and reenabling the main form, but I don't feel this is a good solution.

Is there a better way to handle serial communications?
Is there an API designed for just this task?

Thanks.