Why do I have so many DLL files? Is there a way to reduce them? I am trying to clear up space for something but I need to get rid of some of these DLL files.
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You highlighted your program files, a great deal more than just DLL files are in that folder.– RamhoundCommented Dec 15, 2016 at 4:14
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It's not abnormal. Aside from also containing arbitrary resources (i.e. you can store anything, including audio and pictures, in a DLL), a good chunk of those in your measurement are probably hardlinked in WinSxS and not taking up any actual space on disk. Others will be left over from old updates and can be removed, at the cost of no longer being able to uninstall those updates. Never ever try manually deleting them.– BobCommented Dec 15, 2016 at 4:44
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@Ramhound no, these are the whole system. I was just highlighting the ProgramData folder earlier so it stayed highlighted. It is 16GB for the whole computer. Trust me, I know how to use WinDirStat. :)– MTMasterCommented Dec 15, 2016 at 4:55
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2 Answers
Why the DLLs?
Ok, so there's really nothing to say about whether some amount of DLLs is "normal" or not, since it really depends on what you have installed1. But before I say anything else, I'll start with:
Do not go manually deleting DLLs unless you know exactly what it's for and what uses it. Especially not from system directories. That's a good way to break your system.
DLLs are most often thought of as modules containing code, but they can also contain arbitrary resources. For example, in Windows it's fairly common to store icons and language translations within a DLL. At the end of the day, any program can put anything it wants into their own DLLs, and those are never safe to manually remove -- uninstall the whole program instead.
First, a word of caution
I get that you need more space, and I've been there. It's not a good feeling, and it's not an easy job.
However, please be careful as you remove files. It's best if you can take a full backup first (assuming you just need more space on this drive). Favour moving files/folders to a different drive rather than deleting them outright. Try to research what a file/folder is for before deleting, if you are unsure. It's better to ask and make sure rather than accidentally delete something you actually need.
There's a few things you can do here, if you really need space.
Firstly, you're better off reducing the size of your user profile - you have 30 GB of data there, perhaps move some of it to a different drive if it's safe to do so. You can also run Disk Cleanup, and clean up your temp files. Be aware that moving things out of AppData can break some programs, lose some settings, browser history/bookmarks, etc., because that's where they're stored.
Failing that, I'd look at perhaps uninstalling some programs you no longer need. Run the proper uninstallers; don't go randomly deleting files.
If you really can't get enough space, some DLLs would have been left over from old Windows updates. These are kept as a backup in case you ever want to uninstall an update. You can also remove them via Disk Cleanup using the Windows Update Cleanup option - again, the cost is you will no longer be able to uninstall any currently-installed updates (though future updates will create more).
If that's still not enough, you can take a look at your ProgramData folder - from your screenshot it's fairly big. But be careful here too, since deleting the wrong thing can break some programs (or even inadvertently remove an uninstaller permanently, making future uninstall or updates difficult/impossible).
Hunting for other removeable files
WinDirStat is a great tool for this, so you're off to a good start. However, I feel you are focusing on the wrong area - rather than looking at file types, you're probably better off browsing in descending order of folder and file size, and removing what you safely can.
1 Also, the actual space taken is probably considerably less, since many of them are hardlinked in WinSxS, and WinDirStat does not understand/merge hardlinks. You're better off ignoring this folder - the Windows Update Cleanup option above should minimise space used too.
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Thanks a lot! I have already done a lot of what you said, however the Windows Update Cleanup helped so much. I needed to shrink my partition on windows to 60gb so I could put something else, and that shrunk it down to 52. Perfect. I have marked your answer as a solution. Thanks so much for your help.– MTMasterCommented Dec 16, 2016 at 0:05
DLL are known as dynamic linked library, which is basically a function/resource that can be used and/or called up while running a program.
If you have lot of program that comes with DLL it would not be surprising that you have lot of them. Heck I would not be shocked if over 35% of them were duplicates or slight variation of each other especially true with video games (library re-used across multiple products). A example of video games with DLL, once upon on a time, would comes with Directx DLL. I should know myself since I had to fix a corrupted or wrong version Directx DLL myself more than once.
If you want to reduce space taken up by DLL. My suggestion would be to look at which is your least used program and think about delete them.
But I would at least go by the largest program first before looking at DLL to be honest with you.
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That's just wrong. DLLs contain functions that are often called by the system for vital operations. An app can have its own DLLs but most also rely on DLLs that are part of the OS for key functionality.– bwDracoCommented Dec 15, 2016 at 4:46
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It answer why program has DLLs... I was going for easy to understandable approach. I don't get why people downvote. Bob basically said the same thing.– VyndicuCommented Dec 15, 2016 at 16:19