[kurtonio24]

i have recently have installed Windows xp on my computer. right when i was done with the installing i then procceded to install Black and White 2(f.y.i. a compputer game) as i was a loading it a pop up showed up that said ,"Message from local system to user CRITICAL ERROR MESSAGE! REGISTRY DAMGED AND CORRUPTED!" Also, it will say ,"failure to act now may lead to data loss and corruption." then the pop up would have a webaddress on it that says "go here to fix the prolem". the websites include: www.clean32.com msreg.com and www.registrycleanerxp.com. when i was done installing the game that pop ups keep coming. i was wondering if you could help me. Is it somethin i need to stress over and worry about? Does it threaten my Mac? is it something that could be easily fixed? can i use norton anti virus? How do i stop it? Is it the game that caused it? if i were to remove the game will it stop? PLEASE HELP ME!

[MichiganRich]

Welcome to Windows garbage world. I don't look forward to these forums being taken over by Windows problems, especially the fake-but-real-looking alerts.

Have fun figuring out what the fark a registry is or why you have to worry about it in the first place.

[ghporter]

You have some sort of spyware. It's a hoax and not something you need to worry about. Get a copy of [url=http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10672044.html?tag=lst-0-1]Ad-Aware[/img] and SpyBot Search and Destroy and scan your Windows installation to eliminate the spyware. While not a real problem, it can be ugly and unpleasant to have to deal with.

Remember that ANY Windows installation NEEDS an antivirus program. AVG free edition is a good choice. And keep both Ad-Aware and SpyBot handy. Finally, safe surfing is REALLY important, particularly when running Windows.

(And I'm moving this to the appropriate forum.)