Excuse my bluntness but why include F# Sharp and other rarely used runtimes along with C++ runtimes? I mean i have yet to come across any program that requires or installs these and i run a lot of cutting edge beta/demo stuff.
The F# runtimes are so small, and never know when you may need it! In my package, you only have the 2005, 2008, 2010, and 2012 runtimes which are the mainstream ones anyway. The old runtimes I only use a couple of the files such as atl71.dll, msvcr71.dll etc, as some programs still require these. The bulk lot of files for the old runtimes though I don't see any point. If you are worries about space wastage, the space used by loose package runtime files is significantly more. A lot of programs just have the loose files, such as msvcr80.dll, in their programs folders. Programs will use that file first, instead of the installed runtimes which are newer. You can manually delete all these extra files from the program files and program files (x86) folders safely, and it's probably advantageous to do so since the programs will now use the latest files. The loose packaging of these files actually present a security risk, since there have been the odd security hole or two fixed in the runtimes in the past, and these loose files may not contain those security update. So, when you run one of these programs, the computer is technically 'at risk'.
Ok thanks for the comprehensive explination. If i however delete these old .dll files from program files - how will the programs know to use the newest ones in the system? Maybe they're coded to look for them only in the installation folder.
If the file isn't in the local folder, it can be either looked for directly in the system folders or by the path specification. In any case the runtime situation is a bit messed up. I guess Microsoft didn't make it part of the OS due to competition with other compilers etc (meaning court case issues), but having a few versions of each runtime installed on the system (I believe for 2012 only the latest will be installed) and having just loose files over the place is very inefficient, unnecessary, and technically unreliable. In most cases the program will still work, they just won't benefit from any improvements in the updated runtimes, nor have the security fixes they should have. Different versions of 2008 are compatible... you can run programs that came with an old version on the latest, but possibly not the other way around. Since the latest installers are always used in the runtime packs, this isn't an issue. I don't know whether someone wants to make a simple cleanup tool for the program files and program files (x86) folders for the unnecessary loose components.
Yes I will create a slim .net4.5 but I need to wait for a hotfix to come out to patch it so LDR hotfixes dont fail to install BTW does anybody have the ORIGINAL visual c++/f# runtimes and sql compact?
Seems Mediafire have suspended my account due to the Installer for Office Updates, Windows Update Installer V26d, and the Old update remover. Company Name: Microsoft LCA World Wide Anti-Piracy Team Contact Address: One Microsoft Way, Redmond WA 98052 and also by LeakID. I reckon they just do a search for the name and just assume that it infringes copyright, or worse yet just see that they're posted on this forum and automatically flag it as bad. Maybe if I called the Installer for Windows Updates 'Cute Puppies' and the Old update Remover 'Fluffy Bunnies' they'll leave them alone?!