Motor said:
Here's a photo of my Control Panel entries. Don't understand if they
are all needed. I like the idea of just renaming them and seeing what
happens. Thanks for replies.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/838/38848072.jpg/
I believe those are library files. Things like DLL, used
by some program you're using.
There are two ways to dispense them. They can be dropped into
the Program Files folder, when an application is installed.
In other words, if the developer knows the program needs msvcm90.dll,
a copy might be installed, next to the main program.
Or, the program developer can say, "here, install this package
from Microsoft, to get the DLLs", and that's where that redistributable
comes from. Some program writers, make the user go scrounge for
those files, which is where the redist comes in.
If you have the *original* installers for those five entries,
then you could do what you want with them.
If you don't know where they came from, then removing them could
be a mistake.
You have the option of doing a backup, and then going crazy. Then, test
your apps and see what breaks.
I have a few of those redist here. This is a typical file name - in
this case, it doesn't even identify that it is actually the 2008 version.
vcredist_x86.exe
Inside are files like msvcm90.dll, msvcp90.dll, msvcr90.dll and
they're some kind of CRT or C runtime file. A C library of some sort.
You may have Program File folders already, with some of those
files in it. The redist, could be dropping those files into the
system folder.
Example of a download page for them, here.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=29
The space used by those is so tiny, it's hardly worth bothering with...
Paul
