Ok this has been happening since God knows when. I learned to ignore it a long time ago. But I'm just curious if maybe there is a solution/ a fix?

I'm pretty sure this issue goes beyond XP to all Windows machines. I will try and describe the situation as best I can.

When a printer has a problem, say it is low on toner, the print queue for that printer has an error message saying "low on toner", I go to the printer and the printer also say low toner. So I replace the toner and now the printer is happy, but the error message on the print cue never goes away. It prints just fine and everything works but it just has that residual message. It happens with any such message and it seems random on what computers have these messages. The message was probably valid at some time but is just there because it hasn't been cleared from the operating system. Is there a way to clear the message? I'm sure I am not the only one with this issue, do others just ignore it as well? Is it one of those MS bugs that just no one cares enough for it ever to go away?

Anyways I'm just curious.

You probably need to stop then restart the spooler. Doing this clear's the spooler's cache, and i assume resets those messages.

-gosh

Also note that if you've configured the queue for snmp management, then snmp must tell the spooler the error has cleared from the printer to the print server, and this rarely works. Restarting the spooler will clear it, as will unchecking the snmp box in the printer properties (to take it offline), click OK, and then re-check it to bring the printer back online.