The printer spooler was unable to connect to your printer

Oy Vey! - This message has been driving me crazy for the last 3 days.  When I got this new Dell Computer I used my HP desk jet printer that I had for a few years.  I downloaded the drivers for Windows 8.1 as the old computer ran on Windows Vista.  For about 2  1/2 months there was no problem printing, but all of a sudden I kept getting the message "The printer spooler was unable to connect to your printer"  I tried everything, but just couldn't get it to work.  I don't do all that much printing anyway, so I really shouldn't worry about it.  I was able to download a file to a thumb drive and was able to print it from my old computer.  So, there are no mechanical properties with the HP Printer.  Obviously, the problem is with the software.

It was a rainy and miserable day anyway.