Dll files

Does anyone know of a software programme that will safely delete duplicate or unused dll files.

 

There are many. One that is free is EasyCleaner
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
But safety depends on being cautious and doing a little research when any of the programs suggests deletion of an "unnecessary" or "duplicate" .dll. One of the best defenses is to disable the file and run the PC for at least a week before actual deletion.

 

If this is the prerequisite, there is none.

Even though a DLL may "appear" to be a duplicate (same name, different directory), it may be an older/new version that is required by the software installed in that folder.

Renaming and waiting a week, really won't tell you anything if you haven't run the particular program that needs that file.

The safest solution? Leave them alone. With the GBs of disk space floating around these days, the few KBs of savings isn't worth the potential aggravation.

 

WhitPhil's wise words please note !
Do not remove apparently "duplicated" DLLs - they are not duplicates,
but locked to the application files that use them.
If you want to risk removing isolated Dlls - those having no .exe connection
try Kevin Solway's application, at least you get a restore chance.
Kevin's MineField
... but be careful - it's somewhat old ...
regards

 

merlin:

I would stay away from that one also.

When I ran it a few years ago on a Win98 system, it would no longer boot and I needed to restore the files.

There is NO software that can reliably detect duplicate (or unused) DLLs.

 

Thanks all for your replies and advice, and it was Easycleaner that prompted the thread, as it brought up lots of files and I was not sure whether it was safe to delete any of them.

I will now leave well alone, and forget about the housekeeping.

 

I've been using this dll cleaner for over 3 years without any problems. This program moves the dll files and allows testing to ensure your programs still work. It also has an easy restore feature.

 

Win98SE
It seems rcerrato and I are both referring to Kevin Solway's software to
remove redundant dll files. Like him, I have had no great problems using it
about once per year over many years and it did remove a lot of no longer needed files, sometimes up to 2 mega per run.
Once or twice too many, (spooler, Lexmark stuff) but I never had a system that would not reboot after running it, like WhitPhil mentions.
After the check run, it shows what it has found as "redundant" and you can
choose the files it will save on one side for later restore if needed.
A big problem is that programmers generally give no visual indication in the naming of dll files, as to which application the belong.
So you really cannot decide if the dlls belong to apps you have uninstalled
and are really leftovers from badly programmed uninstall programs.
I have no idea what the Solway app does with an OS > Win98SE.
regards