Supporting Windows

I hope this is the right place to post this. If it isn't, my deepest apologies. I am brand new to this forum and this was one of the first vista areas I could find, so please, I beg you, don't yell at me for this.

Every once in a while I have an issue with COM Surrogate stopping on me. I know that's usually because of a codec, so I'll either restart my system * which usually fixes it * or reinstall whatever codec that it tells me it needs to. The last few times its been with a codec called FFmpeg, which isn't available for download off its parent website. I don't have a clue of what the thing is it wants to point me to for download where it is available, so I'm not sure what to do there.

My other issue is with the use of Adobe Photoshop CS2. The install goes smoothly, yet everytime I want to use it, the registration window opens, and I always click don't register, or a few times I'll attempt to register it to make it go away, but it just won't do it. It just keeps coming up every single time and it's getting on my nerves! I have even attempted searching my system registry for the possibility of a registry key that will allow me to make it registered globally so as to help make this registration thing go away, but have come up with nothing. There's the dilemma. Now, two questions come to mind here: (1)With the Registry in mind, can I create "registered to" entry keys to fix this? (2) Is there a possible fix for this anywhere that anybody may possibly know of?

Again, I'm sorry if this has been put in the wrong area, and thank you for anything you can tell me on either issue.