If anyone is wondering how to get the Quick Updates contribution to work with Register Globals turned off, this seems to be a simple way to do it.

Go to the quick_updates.php file in the admin directory and find the line near the top of the file that says require('includes/application_top.php');

Right under it, add this code:

$sort_by = $_GET['sort_by'];
$row_by_page = $_GET['row_by_page'];
$manufacturer = $_GET['manufacturer'];
$page = $_GET['page'];
$current_category_id = $_GET['cPath'];
$languages_id = $_SESSION['languages_id'];
$spec_price = $_POST['spec_price'];

So far it seems to be working great for me!