Do I Really Need More Than One .NF ?

I'm running W7(x64) and I see that I have a few versions of .NET Framework installed. Does retaining each version serve a purpose (other than consuming disk space)? - i.e., why doesn't it suffice to just have the latest version?

Also, in which folder are the .NF installations typically located?

Thanks,
Cruise

 

Hey Cruise,

I'm afraid the answer is that you may need all of them. It seems that Microsoft (in their infinite wisdom) does not make the code of each succeeding .NF version 100% backwards compatible with prior versions. So if you were to uninstall older versions and just keep the latest version you may find that some apps won't like that because they were written with the specific code of the older .NF version!

TS

 

Right. Usually I don't need .NF, but in the past I found some programs that needed an older version of it.

 

I unintentionally overlooked your second question. Look in the \Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework folder in both C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86).

TS

 

Thanks Shadow. That sure smacks of very poor program development, but I guess I can spare the disk-space.

Cruise

 

You may want to look at these...

Do I need still need older versions of the .NET Framework on my system after installing .NET Framework 3.5 SP1?

.NET Framework Versions and Dependencies

 

those .NET windoes updates can take forever to download and install.

as a result, i replaced the few programs that needed it by similar programs/apps that do NOT need .Net

then got rid of .Net as much as i could.

i avoid software that needs frameworks as much as i can.