Thread: Can not open registry key...?

Hello friends, i was refered to this site by a buddy, so i figured i would give it a shot.. heres what i got

I got some adware/spyware on my computer, and i have identified it as (Spyware Quake 2.0) basicly its a adware deal that makes pop-ups that look like real system pop-ups that try to get you to buy their product. My spyware protection has been unable to remove this threat, so i am going to do it manually, in the past i have removed entries from the registry key, so im not too nervous about doing so. Also in the past ive always gone to run and typed "regedit" to open the key, gone in and done what i needed then saved and left. However when i recently tried to open the key and remove the entries that SpywareQuake2.0 has put in, i get this error message:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\regedit.com
The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.
CS:0156 IP:04df OP:0f a7 00 22 00 Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.

My question is, how do i fix this, or is there another way to get into the key... thank you - Alex

Running Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2 on a Dell Dimesion 4550