Almost every time I start my computer the following error message appears: ‘Windows encountered an error accessing your system registry, Windows will restart and repair the system registry’. However, when the computer reboots the same message appears again. Can you help? I am using Windows 98.

This behaviour can be caused by defective memory in your computer which may be damaging segments of the registry which are in memory. There are two ways to diagnose this problem which are outlined in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article ‘Registry Checker Continues to Detect Registry Damage’ which can be found at support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q186/9/09.asp. If your computer does appear have defective memory from the procedure in this article, I suggest that you take it to a computer technician to verify this diagnosis and take steps from there (eg. you may have to get certain RAM sticks replaced).