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Asked: 2026-05-12T07:56:13+00:00

I would like some information on the runtime libraries for Visual Studio 2008. Most

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I would like some information on the runtime libraries for Visual Studio 2008. Most specifically when should I consider the DLL versions and when should I consider the Static versions.

The Visual Studio documentation delineates the technical differences in terms of DLL dependencies and linked libraries. But I’m left wondering why I should want to use one over the other. More important, why should I want to use the multi-threaded DLL runtime when this obviously forces my application into a DLL dependency, whereas the static runtime has no such requirement on my application user machine.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Larry Osterman feels that you should always use the multi-threaded DLL for application programming. To summarize:

    • Your app will be smaller
    • Your app will load faster
    • Your app will support multiple threads without changing the library dependency
    • Your app can be split into multiple DLLs more easily (since there will only be one instance of the runtime library loaded)
    • Your app will automagically stay up to date with security fixes shipped by Microsoft

    Please read his whole blog post for full details.

    On the downside, you need to redistribute the runtime library, but that’s commonly done and you can find documentation on how to include it in your installer.

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