Is a registry cleaner needed for win 7 64-bit

Do I need a registry cleaner with win 7 -64 bit and if so please suggest one that will not screw up windows 7-64 bit. I dont know enough to go into registry and make manual changes.

I always used latest version of regvac (registry cleaner) for win xp. I am now using cc cleaner and registry mechanic with windows 7 64 bit. The regvac site it says that iregvac s compatible with win 7-32 bit and does not mention win 64 bit. Author or regvac emailed me that it wont restore 64 bit registry in restore option.

Almost all Registry Cleaners are sales scams with no genius behind them. They will almost always mess up your system.

The exception is the Registry tab on CCleaner, perhaps the most respected single app in the tech world.

You should never use a registry cleaner, of any sort (even CCleaner), on any version of Windows. They do nothing to improve your system, and at the same time introduce a rather significant potential for harm.

You can find many articles along these lines, this is just one example:
Why I don’t use registry cleaners | Ed Bott's Windows Expertise

Please do not smear the single-most respected little app in the tech world, CCleaner, by associating it with the Reg Cleaners which are pop-up sales scams.

I've installed CCleaner on hundreds of installs representing thousands of uses without a single issue. Any issues reported here have been traced to other causes. It simply doesn't make mistakes after 15 years of being perfected to a T.

Besides you can back up your registry keys cleaned and set a restore point if you don't have enough experience to trust it yet.

I think that to say CCleaner is the most respected little app in the industry might be stretching it just a bit.

I don't mean to smere it (I would concede that it's definitely not malicious), I do question it's usefulness though (e.g. emptying the recycle bin, clearing temp files, etc. is a fairly trivial task to accomplish without the aid of CCleaner and the like)... At any rate, more to the point, consider this:

I use roaming profiles (either because I have more than one computer at home and want to maintain settings from one to the other, or I'm using a computer at work). I install SomeApplication on Computer A; SomeApplication creates and depends on registry keys uner HKCU. I log into Computer B and run CCleaner (now at this point I'm using the same user hive I had on Computer A, but SomeApplication has never been installed on Computer B). CCleaner sees registry entries pointing to files that don't exist and so deletes them. Now, when I go back to Computer A SomeApplication no longer works.

The fact of the matter is that registry cleaners can't reliably know whether a given value in the registry is obsolete or invalid (i.e. it's not possible). The Wikipedia page on registry cleaners does a more eloquent job of describing some issues with registry cleaners (Registry cleaner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):

Lending further deprecation to their value, the usefulness of backups quickly declines to zero, and potential damage from their use to restore the system increases to hazardous, with further changes to the system. This makes later correction of broken aps or difficulties problematical unless the same tool offers comprehensive restoration selectivity, instead of only global change restore.

...makes competent manual review next to impossible for "repair lists" of hundreds or thousands of items. Even in the case of shortcut links, "repair" is typically limited to deletion, without even basic automation to help find the missing file on the system. Thus, changing drive letters, or renaming a directory can instantly produce thousands of errors that could actually be repaired one time, and automatically applied to all.

Removing or changing certain registry data can prevent the system from starting, or cause application errors and crashes.

There is no reliable way for a third party program to know whether any particular key is invalid or redundant. Poorly designed registry cleaners may not know for sure whether a key is still being used by Windows or what detrimental effects removing it may have. This has led to examples of registry cleaners causing loss of functionality and/or system instability,[3][4][5] as well as application compatibility updates from Microsoft to block problematic registry cleaners.[6] The Windows Installer CleanUp Utility was a Microsoft-supported utility for addressing Windows Installer related issues,[7] however the program has subsequently been deprecated because of unintended damage that it caused.

When you see CCleaner on nearly everyone's desktop - from programmers to students to tech support - then I ask what app is more respected? Keep in mind it isn't preinstalled on any computer. These users go and get it - by the millions - for a reason.

We go through these threads every week here. I wish I could just ignore the misinformation about CCleaner, but I have been using it since it's debut and watched true genius at work winnowing out every bug until it is perfect. I feel the slams against it are as wrong and reckless as those against Win7 which we also watched being perfected to a T.

I respect true genius. There would be more of it in the world if others did, too.

Because there are 7 billion people in the world, and if 1% them are savvy like us that leaves 6.9 billion people who have no idea what they're doing and will download and install anything. We don't use it - nor have I ever seen it on the personal computer of anyone I assist.

But that's neither here nor there, and off-topic (we all have our little utilities we love and no one will ever convince us to let them go - I'm sure you'd find some of the things I use regularly appauling too).

What did you make of my theoretical scenario where CCleaner (or any registry cleaner) might easily cause problems in the event of a roaming profile?

Here's another document to consider (Are registry cleaners necessary?):

Sometimes, settings that are no longer needed will remain in the registry in case they are ever needed again. There's nothing unusual about this, and this data, while unused, is small in size.

Occasionally, a registry setting can become corrupt but, in general, the registry is self-sufficient.

We strongly recommend that you only change values in the registry that you understand ...

MS have published very little on this that I can find.

Ther was a Mark Russinovich about why he thought it was useful - but that was som time ago.

There was also a small MS piece on similar lines as they had included one in OneCare.

I have never seen them say never use one.

In fact from the very article you linked:

If you do decide to install a registry cleaner, be sure to research the product and only download and install programs from software publishers that you trust.

That is not saying do not use one.

With so little to go on - I am surprised so many people have taken strong sides on this matter.