Found this:

Nightmarish Printer Status Monitor task which is installed by the setup program of
many HP DeskJet printers when installing on a Windows 9x/ME PC.  HPZSTATX does not
get installed if you install your printer via the "Add Printer" icon in the Printers
Panel - it only gets installed if you run the HP setup program.  Everything that
HPZSTATX does, it does badly :  it uses too many system resources, and, worse, it
frequently "hangs" the printing of documents with, in most cases, only a reboot
solving the problem.  This is twisted !  A printer manufacturer producing a buggy
piece of software which so often prevents the user from..... printing !!!

Recommendation :
If you have been experiencing printing jobs not coming out, get rid of HPZSTATX using
one of the following methods :  either delete HPZSTATX.EXE from the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM
folder in Safe Mode or rename it to HPZSTATX.EXE.OLD.