Print spool problem after windows update

It's been a while since I've had an "on-topic" post here, but as you might imagine quite a bit has been going on. I had this peculiar problem reported to me in the last week about print spool issues with certain models of printers following the official windows update day.

I had a report of some (okidata) printers having some problems under xp and vista following the recent weeks windows update. According to the report the print spooler had died, but it didn't reflect that fact in the services list. The printers in question have a driver update tab in the advanced management and there was a question if they automatically updated via the provider or another source. It seems to not have affected HP printers in this situation. More details if I run across in others.