I have this same problem, but it doesn't disappear so often. I am using an Acer Aspire One with Windows 7. I can't complete the uninstall so I can reinstall the HP software. I will definitely do the update once I get the software re-installed. I got a response to do an L3-Unistall, but it gets to the Microsoft folder and fails.
I have been fighting this for over 3 weeks. I am about to do a restore to a time when the printer was working and then do the critical update to keep it from disappearing. I don't use it a ton, but I do need it to be reliable.