A California based Internet affiliate advertiser has reached a settlement with the Washington State Attorney General. HoanVinh V. Nguyenphuoc, owner of FixWinReg, was accused of violating the states consumer protection and spyware laws when his company sent fake "alerts" to computer users that looked like security warnings but were actually ads for FixWinReg, a registry cleaner. The Attorney General's Consumer Protection High-Tech Unit sued Nguyenphuoc, of Redondo Beach, Calif., and others in February 2007 for marketing their registry cleaner programs through these alerts and falsely claiming the user's computer has serious registry errors in an attempt to dupe unsuspecting users into downloading them. They were also accused of bundling in spyware programs that hijacked the users browser.

Civil charges are still pending against Secure Links Networks LLC and CEO Manuel Corona, Jr., of Brea, and NJC Softwares LCC and company officer Rudy O. Corella, of Lake Elsinore. The state alleges they worked together to market each other's products, including Registry Sweeper Pro, Registry Rinse, Registry Doc, Registry Cleaner 32 and Registry Cleaner Pro.