Missing Visual Studio 2008 runtime files?

[igor]

I did mean 2008SP1.  It is installed properly and verified as working.  Avast just doesn't seem able to load the dlls.

Do you have any other programs compiled in (and linked against the DLLs of) VS 2008 SP1?
I mean, how exactly did you verify that it "installed properly and is working"?

Doesn't make sense, you simply can't install those DLLs that way.

You can, it's just a bit extra work.

Sorry, but it seems you don't know what you're talking about.
You could install VS2003 redistributable that way... but not 2008. Those DLLs have to be registered in the "great" Microsoft's WinSxS folder - they won't work if you just copy them to the application's folder, not on your computer, not on anybody else's.

The legions of users here having issues and receiving no answers or being dismissed must simply be rabble-rousers. 

This is the only thread with reports about problems with the redistributable - so certainly no "legions" of users. Considering that avast! 5 was in beta used by a million of users, now it's certainly more... it really doesn't look like there's a problem with the redistributables.

Besides, we can't really do anything else that run the Microsoft's redistributable (which avast! installer does - the redistributable package is embedded inside). If it fails... that's certainly bad, but I can't see anything we could do about it.

[olddog]

Igor,

For what it may be worth, I have checked my PC. There are 4 copies of MSVCP90.dll in different subfolders of the WinSXS folder. There appears to be a duplication of 1 in terms of its version number and the others have different version numbers. The creation/date modified dates are different, however they all appear to be from installations many months up to a number of years before I installed V5. I did not install any of the beta versions of V5. I moved straight from 4.8 to 5.0.377 in the last week.

There are 2 copies of mfc90u.dll, again in different subfolders of the WinSXS folder, with the same comments above applying to the dates.

I can't find either afwcore.dll or afwcoreclient.dll on my PC, but then I'm not getting any indication that anything is looking for them either.

[igor]

Yes, that's what the WinSxS folder is about - "side by side", multiple versions of the same DLL. When a program starts, the necessary version of the DLL is (somehow) found in that folder and loaded.
So, you can have msvcr90*.dll from VS 2008 SP0 and VS 2008 SP1 installed simultaneously, even though they have the same name, and each program loads the one it needs (though yes, it's kinda crazy that VS 2008 SP0 and SP1 are not complatible, each needs a different redistributable).

As for afwCore*.dll, they're delay-loaded - only when the program needs them.
As the name suggests, they're part of the firewall - so unless you have avast! AIS installed, they will never be loaded (= don't have to be present).

[olddog]

Igor,

Thanks for the explanation.