Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework?

[Paul H]

Freeing up space on my 40gb disk. Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1?
It's slightly over 1gb. And a hotfix that goes with it is over half a gb. I
think it got there when we hired a guy to develop a project that is long
gone now. TIA, Paul

 

[smlunatick]

Freeing up space on my 40gb disk.  Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework 1..1?
It's slightly over 1gb.  And a hotfix that goes with it is over half a gb. I
think it got there when we hired a guy to develop a project that is long
gone now.  TIA, Paul

NO. Microsoft has deemed the .Net as part of the Windows Update.
They provide these as a run-time environment that other programs can
make "calls" to without needing to include them in their software.

 

[Bob I]

Something is seriously wrong with those numbers. You can uninstall it
but any program that requires it will complain or fail.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Something wrong with the size of those you posted. And as far as .Net Framework goes
if it was installed then you system or some program needed it. If you delete it then
whatever is associated with it will not run or at least not completely

 

[Peter Foldes]

If it is on WU then the computer needs it. When it scans (WU) it senses that the OS
needs it because of a certain program that is installed

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

Freeing up space on my 40gb disk. Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1?
It's slightly over 1gb. And a hotfix that goes with it is over half a gb. I
think it got there when we hired a guy to develop a project that is long
gone now. TIA, Paul

NO. Microsoft has deemed the .Net as part of the Windows Update.
They provide these as a run-time environment that other programs can
make "calls" to without needing to include them in their software.

 

[someone]

I got along just fine with only .Net Framework 1 installed. Then recently
I installed a program that needed .Net Framework 3 and it installed it for
me. Having thus installed that, one of the critical updates for me was .Net
Framework 3.5. (I don't remember what program it was.) So, yes, there are
some programs that require it.

 

[Leroy]

The .NET Framework is a key Microsoft offering and is intended to be
used by most new applications created for the Windows platform. You
should not remove it!

 

[Paul H]

The add / remove programs says the size of Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 is
1,001.00MB. The size of the Hotfix is 634.00MB. I un-installed another
pair of Microsoft .Net somethings having to do with Visual Basic
development - a library, I think - that I'm no longer involved with, showing
similar sizes, and immediately the drive C: properties showed that amount of
increased available space. I believe some other development needed these
large items. I'm safe if they are needed they will download again?

Something wrong with the size of those you posted. And as far as .Net
Framework goes
if it was installed then you system or some program needed it. If you delete
it then
whatever is associated with it will not run or at least not completely

 

[Noel Paton]

Rubbish -
..Net only appears on Automatic Updates IF it is already installed (by the
user) - otherwise its absence is totally ignored.
..Net is only required by some applications - the only way to find out if the
version the OP has installed is required is to uninstall it, and then run
all installed applications to see if they come up with an error
message(AFAIK - although there may be a warning during the uninstall).
Version 1/1.1 is now rather dated - and is not a direct ancestor with later
versions (it's quite possible to have 3 versions - or maybe 4 - e.g. 1/1.1,
2, 3, 3.5) all installed at the same time, if the apps installed require
them - but if that is the case, then someone's IT dept should be ranged up
against a wall....


--
Noel Paton (MVP 2002-2006)
(CrashFixPC)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.co.uk

Freeing up space on my 40gb disk. Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1?
It's slightly over 1gb. And a hotfix that goes with it is over half a gb.
I
think it got there when we hired a guy to develop a project that is long
gone now. TIA, Paul

NO. Microsoft has deemed the .Net as part of the Windows Update.
They provide these as a run-time environment that other programs can
make "calls" to without needing to include them in their software.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Freeing up space on my 40gb disk. Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1?
It's slightly over 1gb. And a hotfix that goes with it is over half a gb. I
think it got there when we hired a guy to develop a project that is long
gone now. TIA, Paul

Several points:

1. Whether or not you need the 1.1 version of .net framework depends
on whether or not you run a program that was written with .net 1.1.
Since nobody here knows the answer to that, nobody can answer the
question for you.

2. If you want to, you can try deleting it. If some program needs it,
it will complain that it's not there and won't run. At that point,
you'd either have to reinstall it, or do without the complaining
program.

3. Even if you don't currently run a program that needs it, there's a
good chance that you will in the near future, so deleting it is not,
in my view, a great idea.

4. A 40GB drive is a *tiny* one these days. If that's all you have and
you are so tight for disk space that deleting this file would help
you, be aware that deleting it, or doing anything else to minimize
your disk space usage, would only be a stopgap measure. Whatever you
do to lower your usage now, in the near future you will almost
certainly be running out of disk space again.

5. So there's really only one good solution to your disk space
problem. Buy a new larger drive, and either use it as a second drive
or replace the 40GB drive with the newer bigger one. Fortunately, the
cost of disk drives is very low these days.

 

[JS]

You most likely have the .Net Framework SDK
(Software Development Kit) installed.
http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/...A6-3647-4070-9F41-A333C6B9181D&displaylang=en

If the person who did software development is long gone
and you are no longer developing or updating/modifying the
software he or she created then you can uninstall .Net.

If you however still run (but do not modify) the applications
that the person created, then after uninstalling .NET 1.1 SDK
you will need to install the .NET Redistributable (Runtime version)
which uses far less disk space.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en

 

[Paul H]

Yes, he used Visual Studio, and I am not using anything he developed. So
here comes some more free disk space!!!


You most likely have the .Net Framework SDK
(Software Development Kit) installed.
http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/...A6-3647-4070-9F41-A333C6B9181D&displaylang=en

If the person who did software development is long gone
and you are no longer developing or updating/modifying the
software he or she created then you can uninstall .Net.

If you however still run (but do not modify) the applications
that the person created, then after uninstalling .NET 1.1 SDK
you will need to install the .NET Redistributable (Runtime version)
which uses far less disk space.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en

 

[Paul H]

I don't use this old laptop for much - I just keep it around because it has
some programs installed that are no longer available to me. I've already
freed up 1/3 of the entire disk - it was needlessly full to the brim. All
of the stuff I'm uninstalling says "last used" 2004 or earlier.

Freeing up space on my 40gb disk. Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1?
It's slightly over 1gb. And a hotfix that goes with it is over half a gb.
I
think it got there when we hired a guy to develop a project that is long
gone now. TIA, Paul

Several points:

1. Whether or not you need the 1.1 version of .net framework depends
on whether or not you run a program that was written with .net 1.1.
Since nobody here knows the answer to that, nobody can answer the
question for you.

2. If you want to, you can try deleting it. If some program needs it,
it will complain that it's not there and won't run. At that point,
you'd either have to reinstall it, or do without the complaining
program.

3. Even if you don't currently run a program that needs it, there's a
good chance that you will in the near future, so deleting it is not,
in my view, a great idea.

4. A 40GB drive is a *tiny* one these days. If that's all you have and
you are so tight for disk space that deleting this file would help
you, be aware that deleting it, or doing anything else to minimize
your disk space usage, would only be a stopgap measure. Whatever you
do to lower your usage now, in the near future you will almost
certainly be running out of disk space again.

5. So there's really only one good solution to your disk space
problem. Buy a new larger drive, and either use it as a second drive
or replace the 40GB drive with the newer bigger one. Fortunately, the
cost of disk drives is very low these days.

 

[Twayne]

Freeing up space on my 40gb disk. Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework
1.1? It's slightly over 1gb. And a hotfix that goes with it is over
half a gb. I think it got there when we hired a guy to develop a
project that is long gone now. TIA, Paul

An easy way to tell is to rename it to someting like fname.OLD.ext. If
it's needed, the program that needs it will tell you so, and ask for it
to be installed. In which case you rename it back. If nothing breaks
delete it.

Twayne

 

[Twayne]

If it is on WU then the computer needs it. When it scans (WU) it
senses that the OS needs it because of a certain program that is
installed

Not necessarily so.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Freeing up space on my 40gb disk. Do I need Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1?
It's slightly over 1gb. And a hotfix that goes with it is over half a gb.
I
think it got there when we hired a guy to develop a project that is long
gone now. TIA, Paul

Have the local IT backup your system, then uninstall. If all your 3rd party
apps work, you're good to go.

I do not have the developer (bloated) version you are using. The latest,
per add/remove programs is version 1.03705 per update, and one hotfix per
update.

As for other net framework versions, each one has its own general purpose.
Some casual browsing on the subject will show that. Its extremely doubtful
that a 3rd party application would need more than one version of Net
Framework.

Net Framework (appropriate version) that works as is with a specific 3rd
party application is usually provided by the installation package of that
3rd party software. And will install that version of Net Framework if not
already installed during the 3rd party application installation process.

Updates to a particular version of Net Framework may have unintended
consequences on the 3rd party applications operation. Uninstall and
Reinstallation of the 3rd party application may be needed in some cases.
This process will not affect the updated version of Net Framework.

 

[Jim]

I don't use this old laptop for much - I just keep it around because it has
some programs installed that are no longer available to me. I've already
freed up 1/3 of the entire disk - it was needlessly full to the brim. All
of the stuff I'm uninstalling says "last used" 2004 or earlier.





Several points:

1. Whether or not you need the 1.1 version of .net framework depends
on whether or not you run a program that was written with .net 1.1.
Since nobody here knows the answer to that, nobody can answer the
question for you.

2. If you want to, you can try deleting it. If some program needs it,
it will complain that it's not there and won't run. At that point,
you'd either have to reinstall it, or do without the complaining
program.

3. Even if you don't currently run a program that needs it, there's a
good chance that you will in the near future, so deleting it is not,
in my view, a great idea.

4. A 40GB drive is a *tiny* one these days. If that's all you have and
you are so tight for disk space that deleting this file would help
you, be aware that deleting it, or doing anything else to minimize
your disk space usage, would only be a stopgap measure. Whatever you
do to lower your usage now, in the near future you will almost
certainly be running out of disk space again.

5. So there's really only one good solution to your disk space
problem. Buy a new larger drive, and either use it as a second drive
or replace the 40GB drive with the newer bigger one. Fortunately, the
cost of disk drives is very low these days.

I would not take the dates provided by add/remove as the gospel truth. I
have seen entirely too many cases where a last used date was clearly wrong.
Jim

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:14:18 AM, and on a
whim, Lil' Dave pounded out on the keyboard:

Have the local IT backup your system, then uninstall. If all your 3rd party
apps work, you're good to go.

I do not have the developer (bloated) version you are using. The latest,
per add/remove programs is version 1.03705 per update, and one hotfix per
update.

As for other net framework versions, each one has its own general purpose.
Some casual browsing on the subject will show that. Its extremely doubtful
that a 3rd party application would need more than one version of Net
Framework.

Net Framework (appropriate version) that works as is with a specific 3rd
party application is usually provided by the installation package of that
3rd party software. And will install that version of Net Framework if not
already installed during the 3rd party application installation process.

Updates to a particular version of Net Framework may have unintended
consequences on the 3rd party applications operation. Uninstall and
Reinstallation of the 3rd party application may be needed in some cases.
This process will not affect the updated version of Net Framework.

That is why I don't understand why MS is all but forcing the 3.5 update
on any user of 2 or later. I have one program that installed v2, but I
don't care to have all the later bloatware if it's not needed. Along
with the new plugins installed into the browsers.


Terry R.

 

[Noel Paton]

I would not take the dates provided by add/remove as the gospel truth. I
have seen entirely too many cases where a last used date was clearly
wrong.
Jim

'Last date used' in Add/Remove Programs refers only to the last date that
the installer was accessed - not when the program itself was used!

--
Noel Paton (MVP 2002-2006)
(CrashFixPC)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.co.uk

 

[Lil' Dave]

The date and time was Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:14:18 AM, and on a
whim, Lil' Dave pounded out on the keyboard:



That is why I don't understand why MS is all but forcing the 3.5 update on
any user of 2 or later. I have one program that installed v2, but I don't
care to have all the later bloatware if it's not needed. Along with the
new plugins installed into the browsers.


Terry R.

There's always a "gotcha" if you trust something too much, including
automatic windows update.

The only time I've used Net Framework 2.0 was with TurboTax 2007 in XP. I
restored the entire thing from an image file when I wanted to work on taxes,
and saved to image file again until done. It wasn't part of my day to day
use. Note that I only used this when doing taxes, not for daily use. It
was windows update that presented 2.0 and after for download, which I opted
out on for regular daily use.

Unlike 3rd party software whose subsequent versions were essentially the
same product that did the same identical job, Net Framework subsequent
versions are not fitting strictly into that assumed defintion when a user
downloads in that former assumption. That is what is most misleading about
the entire Net Framework versions at face value to the user. By the actual
usage of each version of Net Framework, subsequent and prior versions are
not actual updates or upgrades to that version. They are entirely different
softwares written for other purposes. Therefore, windows update is broken
when recommending subsequent numerical versions as an update. And broken if
automatically installing subsequent Net Framework versions.