In reference to Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable, I have several of these blighters installed, ranging from 2005 x86 to x64 versions up to 2010 versions.
should all of these be deleted?
Graham
Internet Quote:
Visual C++ redistributables are components shipped by app developers who use Visual C++ to write their software and choose to use Microsoft's code inside the component (e.g. sin and cos math functions) instead of reinventing the wheel. If one of Visual C++ redistributables is on your computer, it is because it is installed alone with one of your apps. Uninstalling one Visual C++ redistributable could save you a few megabytes of disk space, but you risk breaking an app in doing so.
Visual C++ redistributables do not supersede each other. Some apps may be very specific to bind to the exact version of the Visual C++ dlls, for example, to make sure the app runs exactly as published. Most apps, however, bind to the latest edition of the same major version, as it is the default behavior and can benefit from security updates.
There could be multiple versions of Visual C++ redistributables required by one app. For example, if an app depending on Visual C++ 2008 redistributable uses a component depending on Visual C++ 2005 redistributable, the app's developer must ship both versions of Visual C++ redistributables.
On a 64bit computer, the system could have both x86 and x64 editions of Visual C++ Redistributables installed, since Visual C++ redistributable is a common used component, and it is normal to have both 32bit apps and 64bit apps (or even apps that contains both 32bit code and 64bit code) installed on a 64bit system.
Visual C++ redistributables contain code written by Microsoft, thus Microsoft issues security updates for them. Microsoft also ship Visual C++ redistributables to developers so they can test their apps against the new Visual C++ files, and if their apps are compatible with the update, they can choose to include the new version of Visual C++ redistributable in their apps. You will see updates listed in installed programs along with their base versions, if you installed updates to Visual C++ redistributables from Microsoft or from apps developers.
You can probably find the app installing a redistributable by looking for the app with the same install date, but there is no telling how many other apps depend on the same redistributable got installed later. The amount of time you spend on finding the dependency would most likely not worth the few megabytes you may save.