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NET Framework, Microsoft never consolidated all these older versions into a unified package. And unfortunately, unlike with the somewhat similar. So, while it sometimes looks like multiple versions of the same package are installed, they are all subtly different. One might indicate that it’s a service pack, while others might just have slightly different version numbers. For example, you might see multiple versions of the 2008 redistributable. It’s also possible that you’ll see what look like multiple versions of the same redistributable installed, or at least multiple versions from the same year. NET Framework, and Why Is It Installed on My PC? Here’s a shot of the installation of the current AMD graphics driver package, which you can see wants to install the 20 C++ Redistributables.
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Sometimes, the package is bundled along with the application. Typically, this means that the developer has chosen to have the latest package downloaded from Microsoft at installation time. You’ll notice this a lot if you’re a PC gamer, especially if you get your games through Steam. Sometimes, you’ll get a pop up the first time you run a program saying that the redistributable package is being installed. Redistributables also offer a single installation on a user’s computer that multiple programs can use at the same time. The packages are made available by Microsoft, who also tests and updates them with bug and security fixes. There are several advantages to using a redistributable.
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Most choose the latter, and that package is known as a Visual C++ Redistributable. They can bundle those DLLs into the installation of their application, or they can rely on a standard distributable package of shared code. When it comes time to deploy their software to users, developers have a choice to make. That shared code takes the form of dynamic link libraries (DLLs), a term most Windows users have come across at some point or other. The programming environment includes access to a lot of shared code libraries, which let developers use already-developed code for specific procedures instead of having to write their own from scratch. It offers developers a single application in which they can write, edit, test, and debug their code. It was originally a standalone product, but is now included as part of Microsoft Visual Studio. Microsoft Visual C++ is a integrated development environment (IDE) used to create Windows applications in the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages.
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