Had an unusual problem with Word 2007 and Vista today which lead to Word freezing up after a document was opened up by double clicking on it.
My suspicions were that an “add-in” had gone crazy and taken over Word and wasn’t letting it complete its start up, and to call them out, i’m pretty sure it was Acrobat Professional with their really bad product.
The fix is relatively simple, its a registry edit of one, or possible two keys depending upon the severity.
Open up Registry Editor (windows key+r, “regedit”, enter) and look for
CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office/Word Rename Addins -> oldAddins
Then restart word, if it works, you’re good to go. If it doesnt, edit this other one as well
CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office/12.0/Word Rename Data -> oldData Rename Options -> oldOptions
That should do it!