What is the reason for the large number of Visual C++ packages installed on the computer?

 

If you own a computer, whether it is a desktop or a laptop that runs on Windows, you must have taken a look before at the list of programs installed on the device, which naturally includes programs, files, and programming tools for the operating system of the device itself, as well as those additional programs that you installed yourself in order to It, meets your special needs and requirements while working on the device, such as video drivers, internet browsers, and others.

 

It is possible that you may have stopped, even once, while perusing the list of programs installed on the device, in front of a number of system drivers that come installed on the device automatically within the Windows version, which bears the name “Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable”, so what are these programs, and why do they include the list of programs installed on the device within the Windows version is more than one tool bearing the name Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable? If these questions have crossed your mind before, the following lines will answer them.

 

What is the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Packages?

 

Anyone who has a little knowledge of the world of programming when they read this name can guess from the first moment that there is a relationship between these programs and the C++ programming language. A programming language is a method that programmers and developers of computer programs and applications use to write commands and tasks that they want the computer to perform. The most popular programming languages include C, C++, C#, JavaScript, Python, and Visual Basic, and each has its own purpose. For example, the use of Python and Visual Basic languages is more suitable for creating GUI tasks because of the GUI design elements included in it, and C++, which was developed for the first time in the eighties the twentieth century, is one of the most famous and most used programming languages despite its age.

 

As for Microsoft Visual C++, it is an integrated development environment (IDE) that uses the C, C++, and C++/CLI programming languages to create Windows applications, and provides developers with a single application through which they can write, edit, test, and debug commands and code. It also gives them access to dynamic link libraries "DLLs" that contain a set of shared code through which they can use already developed code and commands and include them in their programs to perform specific actions so that they do not have to write those instructions from scratch. Once the developer finishes coding the program, there are two ways to install the shared codes that were used in designing the program so that they are automatically called from the dynamic link libraries in the integrated work environment when the program is run.

 

The first method is for the software developer to compile and install the dynamic link libraries whose shared code is used as part of the program or application individually, and the second method is to install a standard package of shared code on the device, and it is redistributable so that it can be used to run many programs on the device. the device at the same time instead of being included in each program separately, and developers often resort to using the second method, and these standard packages are known in the Windows system as “Visual C ++ Redistributable” packages, and they provide a set of advantages Like its ability to test, update and fix bugs.

 

Why are so many Visual C++ packages installed on my device?

 

When you intend to install a new copy of Windows on your personal computer and let it be a copy of Windows 10 for example, you will need to choose between two versions of Windows according to the capabilities of the CPU in the device you are using, one of which is the 32-bit version, and the second is the 64-bit version bits of Windows, and the essential difference between both of these versions is the size of the RAM that the system can handle, so the 64-bit version of Windows has the ability to process a larger amount of RAM data while running a number of different programs and applications on the device at the same time.

 

Some Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable packages are automatically integrated into the version of the Windows system installed on the device, and the type and number of these packages depend on the type of Windows version installed on the device, as the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable packages for the 32-bit version are different Windows differs from those for the 64-bit version of Windows, but since the 64-bit version of Windows is also able to run all 32-bit programs and applications along with the 64-bit programs and applications, it usually contains the packages intended for both versions.

 

Now that the new version of Windows is installed on the device, let's assume that you wanted to install more programs, whose developers used other shared codes from dynamic linking libraries in their design. This means that installing the program will also require installing additional Microsoft Visual C++ packages on your device in order to be able to run the required program, and then you will notice that the program has installed new Visual C++ packages on your device.

 

For example, if a developer of a particular program uses code shared from Visual Studio 2005 if you install that program on your machine, you should expect that the 2005 version of the Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable packages are installed. on your device with the software. When you run the program for the first time on the device, you will notice a pop-up window informing you that the Visual C++ redistributable packages that came with the program are being installed.

 

Most software developers are keen to add to their programs the latest version available at the time of program development from the redistributable Microsoft Visual C++ packages, so we see many of these packages installed on our devices, how much we can see several versions of the same version of the packages, which usually contain Some of the additions made to the same year's release of Visual C++ redistributable packages to serve a different set of purposes. Microsoft has not yet tried to compile all versions of Visual C++ redistributable packages into a unified package, as happened with the .NET framework, which is used to run a number of programs and applications on various devices.

 

What happens if I delete a Visual C++ package?

 

Some users sometimes resort to deleting and uninstalling unnecessary programs to save space on the hard disk of the device, and when we uninstall a program or application on the device, it does not uninstall the Visual C++ redistributable package used to run it, which was installed with the program. , which may accumulate on the hard disk of the device a number of packages that do not necessarily exist and do not actually perform any function.

 

But it is a mistake to consider deleting or uninstalling any of the Visual C++ redistributable packages installed on your device because you do not know which program or application exactly uses that package and whether there are other programs or applications that use the same package or not. And therefore; Uninstalling or deleting a Visual C++ redistributable package is a risky process that may lead to the failure of a good number of programs and applications on the device, and in some cases may cause problems in the operation of the Windows system itself.

 

You may find some websites advising users to delete old versions of the versions of Visual C++ redistributable packages installed on the device and to keep only the latest version of the year version, but as we mentioned before, those versions of the package versions may be slightly different from each other Some and directed to serve specific purposes, and therefore deleting or uninstalling them will lead to the failure of running the programs and applications that depend on them, so do not listen to such advice, and in any case, there are no strong reasons that may invite you to remove or uninstall any of these packages that do not run A little space out of the total hard disk space.

 

Solving software problems caused by Visual C++ packages

 

When an error occurs or a problem appears in the operation of a program or application on Windows, there is no way to know whether this error occurred due to reasons related to Visual C++ redistributable packages or not, and an error message rarely appears when a program fails to install or can't run directly points to the Visual C++ redistributable packages as the cause of the error, but it's still a possibility that deserves to be investigated as the cause of the error, especially if this error occurred in running a program immediately after installing another program on the same machine and it was Both programs use the same package version, in which case it may be helpful to follow these steps:

 

● First, make sure that you are using an updated version of Windows, and if not, update it, sometimes updating Visual C++ redistributable packages can solve the problem.

● Any damaged or missing files from Windows system files can also be searched for and restored or repaired. It will not take much time and this may contribute effectively to solving the problem.

 

● In the event that the previous two procedures fail, it is possible to uninstall the programs and damaged versions of the redistributable Visual C++ packages and reinstall the versions and newer versions of them. And reinstall the latest versions of these applications on the device, but do this step only after making a backup copy of all the package files on the computer.

 

You can uninstall any of the Visual C++ packages manually in the same way as you uninstall any other program on the device by going to the Control Panel, going to the Programs and Features section, then double-clicking on the package name and selecting "Uninstall". Then you can download and install the latest versions of these packages on your device through the official Microsoft website, but remember that you should download the versions of the packages that are compatible with the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows if your device uses the 64-bit version of the operating system.

 

Abstract | Microsoft Visual C++ refers to an integrated development environment that allows programmers and software developers to write code and commands that various applications and programs will execute on a computer using the C++ programming language, and allows them to use shared codes, which are ready-made developed code that is called directly from linking libraries Dynamic and integrated into the program instead of having the program developer write it from scratch.

 

Visual C++ redistributable packages are a set of such shared codes from dynamic linking libraries, which are installed on the device so that it can run a number of programs and applications. Some of these packages come integrated within the installed copy of Windows, while others are installed with additional programs and applications that the user then installs on the device, and this is why there are many of them in the list of programs installed on the device. The 64-bit version of Windows can run programs and applications that are compatible with it as well as those that are compatible with the 32-bit version of Windows, so the Visual C++ redistributable packages for both versions of Windows are installed on the device.

 

Do not try to delete or uninstall any of the Visual C++ packages from the device if it is still working fine even if you do not deem it necessary. to the occurrence of problems in the Windows system itself. The only time you can take the step to uninstall Visual C++ Redistributable Packages is if the installation fails or the programs and applications that depend on it fail to run and all attempts to fix the problem fail. In this case, you can uninstall and delete the old versions of the Visual C++ redistributable packages after making backup copies of them, and downloading and installing the latest available versions of them to run the various programs and applications.