What is the best registry cleanup tool for win7?

Having problems with adobe, and suspect prbs with registry and/or incorrect dll's for 64 bit systems and office 2013. Many thanks. R.

Which of Adobe's products are you having problems with?

Using software to "clean" the Registry can be dangerous due to it possibly deleting false positives. I recommend avoiding such things.

Adobe reader 11

've seen many posts now about office 2013, 32 vs 64 bit, and PDF prbs .... may be the prb.

Agree, messing with the registry is a last resort.

Thank you for any/all guidance.

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Registry cleaners tend to cause more problems than they solve and should be avoided. There really isn't anything wrong with cleaning the registry - if it can be done reliably. As it turns out that is a very difficult thing to do. The problem is that in most cases it is almost impossible to determine with 100% accuracy whether or not a specific registry entry is unused or in error. As a result a registry cleaner must make many guesses. Most guesses are correct but some are not, and they can have serious consequences.

Registry cleaners do have some value when used by an expert to solve a specific problem. But most people who use registry cleaners have only a vague understanding of what the registry even is. A registry cleaner is a tool and like all tools it requires knowledge and skill to be used effectively. In the hands of a skilled surgeon a scalpel is a life saving tool. In the hands of the unskilled it is dangerous.

CCleaner is useful for this purpose; in my experience it has been very accurate. It also offers to backup to a file before it removes the entries so that they can be easily restored. I also recommend creating a restore point before using it just to be safe.

CCleaner is one of the "best" (if the term has any meaning here) registry cleaners available. But I wouldn't use the registry cleaner option. My objections are inherent in the way they must operate and are not confined to any specific product.

The benefits of regular registry cleaning are usually minimal while the risks great. Why take the chance for so little gain?

Garysoft Register Repair and CCleaner are the two I well use. They allow backup and show just what is being "repaired".

LMiller7 said:

CCleaner is one of the "best" (if the term has any meaning here) registry cleaners available. But I wouldn't use the registry cleaner option. My objections are inherent in the way they must operate and are not confined to any specific product.

The benefits of regular registry cleaning are usually minimal while the risks great. Why take the chance for so little gain?

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This is true. Occasionally, startup times and crashing issues can be improved, but as you say, the benefits are usually minimal. The main reason I suggested CCleaner was because nobody was answering his question with any product recommendations. He stated that cleaning the registry was a last resort and that he was seeking any guidance, which makes it seem that he is aware that a clean reinstall may be in his future anyway. Under those circumstances, sure, try a registry cleaner (take the chance) before going all-out with a clean reinstall.

To my knowledge, there is nothing to be gained with a registry cleaner in Windows 7. But if you want to muck around with one, take at least a system image or registry backup before you do.

Snake oil in my humble opinion. Registry "cleaners/optimizers" have caused MANY more problems than they have solved. Do yourself a favor and leave them alone, you stand a much better chance of screwing up your machine than fixing it with those things. If you feel your machine warrants something as extreme as using one of "those" programs then you're better off just reinstalling Windows to get a pristine registry. Again, IMHO of course.

I gree with the people who say you should not use a registry cleaner. Clean installs can make a system run a lot better. You can always make a thread about your problem here on SevenForums. If you think you have corrupted Windows files, try running the system file checker (sfc): http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html