how to create c++ programs without the requirement of .net framework to run (like ccleaner and utorrent)

Question

i was wondering how programs like ccleaner and utorrent are made? AFAIK they are written in C++ but they run without the need of .net framework and apparently run on windows 98 as well. How can this be done? Visual c++ requires .net framework to be installed to run the binary file.

While .net framework is free, it can be a hassle and it would probably turn many users away as the setup is 20MB+ and installs several files/registry entries.

Answer 1

Visual c++ requires .net framework to be installed to run the binary file.

No, it does not. In fact, C++ and the .NET framework are highly unrelated. You only need the .NET framework if your application is written in C++/CLI, which is far away from regular C++.

If you develop an application in standard C++, you don't need the .NET framework, just the runtime shipped with your toolchain (Visual C++, mingw, whatever). In some cases you can also link to the runtime statically, so you don't even need to distribute DLLs etc.

As for creating GUIs in regular C++, there are toolkits out there. Microsoft offers the bare Windows API, MFC, WTL and there are 3rd party products, like Qt or wxWidgets

Answer 2

Create native C++ project, without using CLI. In VC++ Application Wizard you can select any type, except of CLI.

Native C++ project has its own runtime requirements: C/C++ runtime, MFC runtime (if MFC is used), but .NET Framework is not required.