How can I find out which apps are using .NET and which not?

[occam]

I appear to have three versions of .NET (2, 3, 3.5) with their
associated special packs.

How can I find out which apps are using .NET. (Please, no 'cut-one-out'
method, I do not want to uninstall and see what has stopped working.)

I am aware that the different .NETS are individually and separately
usable by different apps - my questions is what app uses which?

Thanks for any pointers

 

[Paul]

I appear to have three versions of .NET (2, 3, 3.5) with their
associated special packs.

How can I find out which apps are using .NET. (Please, no 'cut-one-out'
method, I do not want to uninstall and see what has stopped working.)

I am aware that the different .NETS are individually and separately
usable by different apps - my questions is what app uses which?

Thanks for any pointers

They're a "software stack". See this picture, to understand why
you should not attempt to separate them. And some day, 4 will
be released and added to your stack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DotNet.svg

From this article.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework )

Is it a mess ? You betcha. The numbering gives the impression
they're releases, and instead, they've mixed releases (like 1.1
versus 2), with components (2,3,3.5,4). And you can't even remove
something like 1.1, if a program needs it specifically.

And that means, unless you're squeezing every last byte from
your C: drive, just leave it alone Or like me, eliminate
all usage of .NET entirely

There was a "compact version" released at one point. If you
never had .NET, you could install the compact version. Then,
you'd be pestered by Windows Update, to load the full version.
As long as you ignored that, the "compact version" might waste
less disk space. If you'd already installed the full .NET,
you can't go backwards to the compact version.

The whole thing is a parallel to Java (similar in some ways, but
with different capabilities), whose picture looks like this.
Just to give you some idea what the inspiration is. If MS
wanted, they could have called 2 a release, and 3, 3.5, 4
could have been "Service Packs" to hide the details. People
might have been more comfortable with a different labeling
scheme.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JavaPlatform.png

Paul

 

[occam]

They're a "software stack". See this picture, to understand why
you should not attempt to separate them. And some day, 4 will
be released and added to your stack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DotNet.svg

From this article.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework )

Is it a mess ? You betcha. The numbering gives the impression
they're releases, and instead, they've mixed releases (like 1.1
versus 2), with components (2,3,3.5,4). And you can't even remove
something like 1.1, if a program needs it specifically.

And that means, unless you're squeezing every last byte from
your C: drive, just leave it alone Or like me, eliminate
all usage of .NET entirely

Thanks Paul for that description and the picture. Based on that, I have
started the process of removing the whole stack, in reverse order.

 

[Jose]

They're a "software stack". See this picture, to understand why
you should not attempt to separate them. And some day, 4 will
be released and added to your stack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DotNet.svg

That is a good picture!

I am leaving my stack alone.