What Is Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable.
Sometimes, when you install an application on Windows, you may be asked to install an additional application called Microsoft Visual C ++ Redistributable. One day, while looking at the applications you have installed, you notice that this program is installed many times. Each installation is different in size and installation date.
What is Microsoft Visual C ++ Redistributable? Why are there so many copies installed and can any of them be removed? There is a lot to be done here, so we’ll start with the basics.
What Is the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable?
Before we get to the C ++ part of the explanation, it’s worth talking about what “redistributable” means.
The software is distributed either as a lightweight online installer or as a redistributable package. Online installers are very small in size because they don’t actually contain app data. When you run them, the data is downloaded from the Internet. The advantage of this approach is that only the data that your computer really needs will be loaded.
On the other hand, the redistributable file contains all the data that might be required during installation. It has the distinct advantage that it doesn’t require an internet connection to work. Redistributables are often included with other software that relies on them, as is the case with VIsual C ++.
Visual C ++ is a code compiler for the C programming language family. This includes C, C ++, and C ++ / CLI code. Many applications written in C, especially those built using the Microsoft Visual Studio development environment, rely on a standard set of software libraries without which software cannot function.
However, since most people who will use the application will not have the entire Visual Studio developer package installed on their computer, the redistributable package contains the libraries that the application needs and can be bundled with its installer.
What Are Software Libraries?
So, we’ve established that the C ++ Redistributables are software libraries that come with applications written using Microsoft Visual C ++ Studio. So what are software libraries?
Applications have many common functions and operations that are used so often that it doesn’t make sense for programmers to manually code them each time. Software libraries are essentially a collection of ready-made program code that a software developer can call in their own code to perform specific tasks. This saves time and helps standardize aspects of software development.
The software libraries in question are owned by Microsoft, so a developer cannot simply copy and paste the code into their own program. The redistributable allows the program to call the required libraries on the user’s computer.
Why Is the Redistributable Repeated So Many Times?
If you look closely, you will notice that different C ++ Redistributables have different names. They have different version numbers and different years in their names.
This is because Microsoft Visual Studio itself is updated over time. This also affects the standard software libraries in each release. An application written using a specific version of Visual Studio will need the Redistributable Library of that version of Developer Tools.
Redistributables are also not cumulative. Thus, newer ones do not contain all the libraries of the previous versions. This is due to the fact that some old libraries will be removed or changed over time and will no longer be compatible with older versions. If they were cumulative, the size of the redistributable package would increase over the years and would be difficult to maintain.
Every time you install a new application that requires a new redistributable file, it checks to see if this library is already installed. If not, it is added to the list. Thus, all the entries that you see in the list were once needed by an application that you installed on your computer.
Should I Delete Any of Them?
Redistributable libraries are shared. This means that multiple applications are using the same installation of standard libraries. Although the program will install the missing libraries along with it, it will not remove those libraries when uninstalled. The reason is that during this time another program may have been installed that also uses these specific libraries.
We do not recommend uninstalling any Visual C ++ Redistributable files as this may cause several applications to stop working on your computer. Given how little space they take up and how widely used they are, it doesn’t seem worth messing around with your current ecosystem of standard library files.
Figuring Out Which Redistributables You Need
If you were absolutely determined to remove the Visual C ++ Redistributables that are no longer used by any software on your computer, how would you do it? There is no automatic way to determine which C ++ library dependencies exist on your computer.
One approach might be to remove all redistributable files and then reinstall the software that you know you need. These applications will then reinstall their required libraries. You can also achieve the same effect with a clean install of Windows and only the applications you need.
Both of these approaches involve a lot of tedious work with very little profit, but if you have to, here’s how to do it.
Don’t Lose Sleep About Visual C++ Redistributables
In our modern era of multi-terabyte hard drives, lots of gigabytes of RAM and multi-core processors, having a few extra C ++ libraries on your computer will have absolutely no effect on the performance or well-being of your computer. Removing them willy-nilly can lead to breakdown, and systematic removal is hard work with little reward. So take a deep breath, close this list of apps and forget about them.
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What Is Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable
What Is Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable