Interesting.
I have never known the Printer Status Notification area to resolve this kind of a problem before. The next time I get a problem like this I will check it out for myself. Not sure exactly what the PSN is used for, I assume applications use that feature to report on the printer in regards to it being available or not.
The path to find this setting is fairly simple:
1. Open up the Printer Properties window for your printer
2. Select the Device Settings Tab
3. Scroll down to the Installable Options area
4. Toggle the Printer Status Notification option to Disabled
Thanks for sharing.