Delete SAME YEAR versions of Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable?

For anyone who may lurk here, I want to make it clear that Robinson's reply is completely inaccurate. I was suspicious when he claimed that the C++ 2015-2022 redistributable could stand in for all prior years (such as 2008) as I knew that to be wrong. This forced me to do hours upon hours of research to dig out the correct answer. Microsoft makes it damn near impossible to get clarity on this issue, so Robinson is to be forgiven for being fooled like so many others. I looked up Robinson's profile and see that he spends LOTS of what I assume to be volunteer time trying to help people. Kudos to him for trying to make the world a better place. OTOH, wrong is still wrong, so here goes ...

In the early years of the Visual Studio programming environment and the directly related Visual C++ Redistributable, there was no effort made to remain consistent between versions defined by year. If a program was coded using Visual Studio for a given year, then the Visual C++ Redistributable for that year must be loaded on your computer or the program will be subject to crashes and inconsistent results.

What about different versions of the same year C++ Redistributable? Can you delete all but latest version of the redistributable for a given year? This was my question that started this thread. Unlike above, I couldn't find any authoritative documentation written by Microsoft on this issue. However, the general consensus is that ALL versions of the same year redistributable must remain installed. To emphasize this point, I found an article on howtogeek.com where they tested this theory by keeping only the latest version of the redistributable for a given year and then seeing what happened. It did not go well.

In 2015, Microsoft changed their policy in response to the growing number of redistributables that had to be loaded. From 2015 onwards, Microsoft guarantees that the C++ Redistributable will remain backward compatible. This advice also applies to minor version numbers (the numbers after the first period). However, if the major version number changes, then the (now old) redistributable must be maintained just like the different year versions. Fortunately, the major version number for the C++ 2015-2022 redistributable hasn't changed since its inception in 2015 (when it was simply called the C++ 2015 redistributable) and isn't likely to change anytime soon. This means for this redistributable, and this one only, the latest version of the C++ 2015+2022 redistributable is all that is needed. Previous versions going back to 2015, including versions called something like "C++ 2015-2018 redistributable" can and should be deleted. When Windows Update installs a new version of this redistributable, the old version is automatically removed.

Information resources:

• Determine which DLLs to redistribute | Microsoft Learn
• C++ binary compatibility 2015-2022 | Microsoft Learn
• Why Are There So Many "Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables" Installed on My PC? (howtogeek.com)

Hi, Baruch. I'm Robinson, and I’m happy to help you today.

Yes, you can uninstall all 2008 versions and you don't need to reinstall them. The Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable is retrocompatible, which means that the apps that need an old version of Visual C++ will work without problem with the newer version.

If you want, you can also uninstall all versions of the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable that you have installed on your computer and install only the latest version 2015-2022. You just need to install both versions 32 and 64 bits.

You can download the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable at this link.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/l...

I hope this information helps. If you have any questions, please let me know and I'll be glad to assist you further.