Most users encounter this package because a program they are trying to install—often a legacy game or utility—fails to launch with a "missing DLL" error.

The variant specifically addresses applications built for 64-bit architectures using Visual Studio 2008, updated to Service Pack 1. Without this package, 64-bit applications compiled with these tools will fail to launch, typically returning error messages such as "The program can't start because msvcr90.dll is missing from your computer."