Solved Is there a .dll identifier application/utility?

[Manigue]

Interested on an application/utility that will tell you or identify to which application a .dll file belongs.

My c:\windows\system32 directory has 2,413 .dll files. My entire c: drive has over 22,000+ .dll files.

I presume some are leftovers from games and/or apps/utilities I no longer have installed.

Would be nice if I could delete some of them knowing that they are no longer needed.

I also use cccleaner and auslogic reg cleaners on a regular basis but still, the .dll's remain.

 

[Bongo]

I am not aware of any program that will do that. I have over 30,000+ .dll in C and it was still counting.
I do not game so a majority of them are original.
I would just leave them alone they are probably not doing any harm they are probably not taking up very much disk space either.
Jerry

 

[Corazon]

Most of these DLL files are stored in the winsxs cache. You don't want to touch winsxs, ever.

While it does contain multiple (differing) versions of many DLLs and other files, that's exactly why winsxs exists. Deleting older versions would defeat the purpose and break your system in major ways.

Besides - there simply is no reliable way of tracing every DLL on your system back to whatever uses it. You're only asking for trouble...and your numbers are perfectly within the norm already.

 

[MilesAhead]

Most of these DLL files are stored in the winsxs cache. You don't want to touch winsxs, ever.

While it does contain multiple (differing) versions of many DLLs and other files, that's exactly why winsxs exists. Deleting older versions would defeat the purpose and break your system in major ways.

Besides - there simply is no reliable way of tracing every DLL on your system back to whatever uses it. You're only asking for trouble...and your numbers are perfectly within the norm already.

+1. It's taking a chance that has a big time down side with hardly any up side. The saved space is negligible.

 

[Manigue]

Thanks for all replies.

I just thought that 22,000+ was something to worry about.

Will leave alone.

 

[bbinnard]

Congratulations for discovering what is probably the biggest architectural problem with Windows - the WINSXS directory. This directory gets increasingly large with every installation of any piece of software, Windows update, or anything else that changes files on the boot drive. There is only one method of reducing the size of WINSXS and this has only limited usability or benefit.

WINSXS stands for "Windows Side-by-Side" and means that there is a copy of every module Windows needs in the WINSXS folder. The idea behind this was to ensure it was possible to restore Windows back to a previoulsy good operating state in the event some evil piece of software was installed. Apparently Windows stuffs things into WINSXS on its own, without notifying any installer program, so that when you de-install something the de-installer does not know about what was put into WINSXS and cannot therefore delete it.

The net result of all this is, as you have discoveres, WINSXS keeps getting larger and larger. At some point is will consume your entire hard disk...if you keep yoru system long enough.

The only tool I've ever seen to reduce the size of WINSXS is the post-Windows Service Pack update clean up routine. For Windows 7 see this article for a description:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/122262-windows-7-sp1-disk-cleanup-tool.html

Previous versions (XP, Vista) have stand-alone tools that do the same thing, but only for Service Pack updates.

Note that if you manually delete things from WINSXS you may destroy Window's ability to restore things, and perhaps to also install new things. MS is not clear about what bad things happen when you mess with WINSXS, but they warn against doing so and I have not found anyone who has ever done anything with it.

 

[Manigue]

The only tool I've ever seen to reduce the size of WINSXS is the post-Windows Service Pack update clean up routine. For Windows 7 see this article for a description:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/122262-windows-7-sp1-disk-cleanup-tool.html

Thanks "bbinnard" for the tutorial link. Saved over 1 Gb.

I always like to remove left over junk from time to time. The best way after all is a clean re-install.

 

[MilesAhead]

The best way after all is a clean re-install.

That's why some people save old backup images or make slipstream install with particular applications on a disc. Trouble is I'm always installing small utilities and I hate to lose all the little weird programs.

Usually there's a new faster machine before it becomes a problem though. If I had room to keep all my old PCs networked together then I'd have to do periodic house cleaning.

 

[Pete4]

Great, so to fix dll issues MS comes up with winsxs directory completely negating original dll purpose of saving space by reusing system calls by many different programs by using common library files (dll) and what happened to the concept of newer dll being down compatible to all older versions, so you only need one, the latest version? Call me crazy, but all this dll idea is a mess. I use portable application only unless there is no other way.
I have portable application that will show what dll files given program is using, but I guess this is not what you're looking for.