PHP PEAR.... install problem or install problem?

when I use any scripting that has php mail, I get the following:
"PHP Deprecated: Assigning the return value of new by reference is deprecated in C:\PHP\PEAR\Mail.php on line 154"


I upgraded to php 5.3 and installed in c:/php instead of the default program files folder. Previously with 5.2.10 I had it installed at the default location. Don't know if any of that is involved in this problem.

I reinstalled PEAR and all of the packages.
Uninstalled and reinstalled mail several times.
I get know error messages from command lines with installs. Environmental variables point to the new php root folder.
php.ini include files point to the correct place to find PEAR C:\php\pear


I've uninstalled and installed pear several times, and that's no easy chore since php 5.3 doesn't include go pear, and go pear is broken in 5.3 because of some hash nonsense.

What is going on with pear? Keep in mind, no programming changes have occurred with the websites that use pear mail.

The scripts using pear mail and mail_mime still send the email, however they show this error message.

PLEASE HELP ~~~~ SOS ~~~~~ Before my head explodes