Anyone Know about .Net (Versions)?

Im setting up for a fresh install of win 7 x64 home premium and one of the things I have DL and plan to burn to disk before i start is .net.(Some progs on the asrock z97 extreme 6) tell u u need .net installed first.

I was wondering is .Net like other software where newer is better? for Ex i have dl .net offline installer versions
4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, and 4.6 RC. Do i really need to burn all these versions and which do i install does 4.6 enough in that it has all the updates? If anyone knowsPlease let me know and please descrive it like to in .net for dummies yellow/back version.

Thanks.

With .net newer is not necessarily better. In theory having the latest .net framework would provide the needs of all applications but it often doesn't work that way in the real world. Many applications were designed for a specific version of .net and will fail if it is not present.

Recent versions of .net framework are just "in-place updates" of former ones (basically, services packs) which offer more features under the very same core. As such, newer versions update and essentially replace older ones. 4 is replaced by 4.5, 4.5 is replaced by 4.5.1, 4.5.1 is replaced by 4.5.2, 4.5.2 is replaced by 4.6. So it boils down to one needing only 4.6 to have programs targeting all those versions running correctly. BTW, it's no longer a RC, but has an official release, you can get it here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/down....aspx?id=48137

A little different is the case with .net 2 though 3.5 SP1. While within those the replacement history is fundamentally the same, those use a different runtime engine that 4.x version do. As such, programs targeting those would need another .net runtime, the 3.5 SP1 would suffice all of them. Windows 7 bundles it in the default installation (not the latest 3.5, though), updates can be downloaded separately, or got from Windows Update.

In short, to have the full range of .net runtimes available all you need are 3.5 SP1 and 4.6

LMiller7 said:

With .net newer is not necessarily better.

That applies to everything, not just .net

LMiller7 said:

In theory having the latest .net framework would provide the needs of all applications but it often doesn't work that way in the real world. Many applications were designed for a specific version of .net and will fail if it is not present.

Not entirely correct. Programs always target one specific .net framework version. That's tightly coupled to a .net runtime version that powers that framework (basically, 2, or 4 are the only choices, as I explained above). Within the very same runtime, any version equal or latter will allow the program to run out-of-box.
For example, targeting .net 4 will run with .net 4.5. Targeting .net 2 will run on .net 3.5, but won't on 4.6.

It's also possible to utilize different runtimes if a compatibility setting is explicitly added to the app.config file of each program, as long as the minimum framework is present.

Windows Update is generally unreliable to deliver specific things, more if the thing is not previously installed. Besides, it's known to deliver malware along with system patches. Certainly not a good idea to rely on it, specially when there are easily accessible download locations, and you can backup the installer for .net too.

.Net 4.6 is no longer beta since a few months ago (look at the download link in my previous post). It's also bundled in Windows 10, which is also out of beta.
For further reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#Versions

I'm still confused as i read before one ver is for win 7 and i dont know if its as simple as just getting 4.6 (this would be normal logic elsewhere in PC but dosent seem to be the case here?)

You can put 4.6 on W7 if you want.

See the chart named Supported client operating systems:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...v=vs.110).aspx

You can put 4.5.2 on W7 if you want. The odds are, you will never encounter an app that needs 4.6 any time soon.