ms .NET - Can one do without it?

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dustoftheearth

New Member
I wanted to see what happens if I uninstall the Microsoft .NET Framework. I have searched for articles on how to do that. I found two that adressed the issue, but a certain "cached Windows Installer file that has the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 RTL x86 enu comment" or "cached Windows Installer file that has the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 RTL x86 enu comment" is (as far as I can see) missing in the installer on my computer. I couldn't find any "cached Windows Installer file that has the Microsoft .NET Framework [_._] RTL x86 enu comment" at all. I don't know how to identify a cached Windows Installer file or even what it means that it's cached, and there was no file with that comment in the C:\WINDOWS\Installer directory.

Also, those articles did actually not adress what will happen to your computer without the .NET stuffs. The article single-mindedly assumed that you wanted to reinstall them.

Do you know of other articles?

Could you help me by telling me if you think it's possible to uninstall/remove the .NET stuffs from windowsXP? How? Will my computer still work? I currently have sp2 on it.

I have already uninstalled them from Windows CP and change/remove program.

The issue I have with the .NET stuffs generally speaking is that they take a lot of hard drive space as do all the security updates that they require. In sum, I haven't noticed anything positive at all coming with it.

Many thanks in advance for your input.

/Peter

EDIT: I forgot to link the articles:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824643
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908077
 
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Unless you have software that needs net framework to run then you'll see no ill effects from uninstalling the software. For a majority of users, its not needed.
 
johnb35 said:
Unless you have software that needs net framework to run then you'll see no ill effects from uninstalling the software. For a majority of users, its not needed.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's good to know. I uninstalled IE and Outlook from the registry, and I also uninstalled MSN through a lengthy procedure which I hope worked out. There was one step that I wasn't sure about.

Does anyone know what steps I should take to avoid security hazards that what's left of .NET after uninstall from Windows CP may cause? Other than what Windows Update offers, I mean. For example, I'd prefer to wipe all .NET directories and stuffs off of my drive, but I don't know exactly how to go about it. If there are still entries in the registry it might be a bad idea to just delete them I guess.
 
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You shouldn't try to get rid of IE. IE is integrated into the operating system and if removed will cause issues later on. If you don't want to use IE, just don't use it. Users think that if they don't use something they can just get uninstall/get rid of it. Well, IE isn't one of the programs that should be messed with. You will have windows update issues now since IE is required for them.
 
johnb35 said:
You shouldn't try to get rid of IE. IE is integrated into the operating system and if removed will cause issues later on. If you don't want to use IE, just don't use it. Users think that if they don't use something they can just get uninstall/get rid of it. Well, IE isn't one of the programs that should be messed with. You will have windows update issues now since IE is required for them.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I know that, but I can go back to IE at any time if I want to, because Microsoft supports it for free and they even send updates for the program when it's not running on your computer at all, such as in this situation when it's uninstalled by changing a certain value in the registry.
 
I enlarged my c:\ anyway. Apologies for posting such a boring thread but thanks for your input. If there is something more to say on how to uninstall .NET completely that would be appreciated but otherwise I guess the topic is pretty much exhausted.
 
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