Microsoft Visual C 2012 Code That Programmers

I put XX infront of the file in question, e.g. rename msfile01 to XXmsfile01.

Its taking up space on my hard drive and Im wondering if those programs are really necessary.

Those programs either install the redistributables they need, or ask you to do so.

When programs are updated or uninstalled, they typically do not uninstall the redistributables, and theres no easy way to know which ones your machine requires.

Microsoft Visual C 2012 Code That Programmers

This includes the tools to convert (or compile) the code that programmers write in C into the.exe,.

DLL Dynamic Link Library DLL is an acronym for Dynamic Link Library, a collection of software that can be re-used by other software.

Click on the term for full definition.) dll, and other files understood by Windows.

These are collections of pre-written software allowing them to avoid rewriting common sequences of code.

Instead, they use this collection of pre-written and thoroughly tested software.

Rather than requiring every program needing this function to write it from scratch, the standard library includes such a function, ready to go.

When you install a program, the setup program may have the option of installing the Visual C Redistributable if its not present.

For example, the Visual C 2015 Redistributable doesnt automatically replace the Visual C 2010 Redistributable.

As you can see in the image above, my machine has ten instances of Microsoft Visual C Redistributables, including 2010,2012, 2013, and 2015-2019 versions, in a mixture of x86 (32 bit) and x64 (64 bit) editions.

I have no idea if you need just one or two or all of the several versions possibly installed on your machine.

If the software installed on your machine needs them, you need them.

In an ideal world, uninstalling the last software package requiring a particular version of the redistributables would also uninstall it.

If you uninstall software using a redistributable, you may be left with an unnecessary redistributable on your machine, with no way to tell if thats the case.

Youll get more space more quickly if you approach it by looking for the space hogs first.

While it might seem like multiple Visual C Redistributables add up to a lot of space, in practice, they dont at least not in comparison to other things on your machine.

Theres no simple way to be sure no program on your machine needs them.

See also: backup (Click on the term for full definition.) Back up.

Part legacy, part optimization, and certainly confusing, Ill look at how and why.

Im Leo Notenboom and Ive been playing with computers since I took a required programming class in 1976.

I spent over 18 years as a software engineer at Microsoft, and retired in 2001.

I started Ask Leo in 2003 as a place to help you find answers and become more confident using all this amazing technology at our fingertips.

I put XX infront of the file in question, e.g.