A subscriber wrote me recently to ask about a pop-up message she was getting:
Dear Terry,
I have been getting pop-ups that say my registry has a problem. I was told by a mutual friend of ours, that I shouldn’t go into the registry. The pop-ups have links to registry32.com etc. I’ve been clicking the pop-ups off. What would you suggest?
I probably would not have written this article for my newsletter, if I hadn’t heard a caller on the Cajun Clickers Radio Show (listen live at 9:05am CDT on Saturdays, www.wjbo.com) on the very same day. The Cajun Clickers Computer Club runs this call-in ask-the-experts show. We usually have a host and two more members on the show. I host the show about once a month.
Anyway, one of the callers during Saturday’s call-in show had the same question. I wasn’t on the air then, but the answer was the same one I gave my email newsletter subscriber.
Windows does not have pop-up messages to warn you about registry problems. If you see one, it is an advertisement. Sometimes, it might be a pop-up advertisement caused by the web site you visited. Other times, it may be a pop-up because of adware on your computer!
By the way, the domain mentioned above (registry32.com) didn’t respond then, either . At the time I wrote the article, domain registrar Dotster.com changed registry32.com’s nameservers to ns1.spamshutdown.com and ns2.spamshutdown.com. And, then the domain went completely dark. Wasn’t that a shame… (That domain has been released and is now one of those useless sites with nothing but ads — and it wants to open a popup, too.)
Your first stop should be a good anti-adware / anti-spyware program. VIPRE Antivirus Premium is my personal choice and recommendation. It’s not free, but it has a 30-day free full-function trial.
If you want to check for and to correct Windows Registry problems, the Registry cleaner and repair program that I use is PC Matic.
You can download for free and scan for free, but you’ll have to buy PC Matic to have it fix the things it finds. .
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