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My program is currently 980mb is there any way i can make this smaller?

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asked why a build is 980 MB; and touched on likely causes. The checklist below focuses on practical diagnostics and fixes that extend those replies with tools and platform-specific actions.

Start by making a safe copy of the project folder and run a folder-usage tool (for example, WinDirStat) to find which files or subfolders dominate the size. Remove build artifacts (clean bin/obj, temporary installer outputs) and any large sample/test data that accidentally shipped with the build. If the EXE is unusually large, open it with an archive tool such as 7-Zip — self-extracting installers or embedded payloads show up there.

For VB.NET projects: compile in Release, exclude symbol files from the distribution (PDBs) and consider assembly trimming rather than bundling the runtime into a single self-contained file. Trimming can strip unused code and shrink output, but it requires testing because reflection and dynamic loading can be affected (). Example publish command:

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --no-self-contained -p:PublishTrimmed=true

For native/VB6 or packaged installers: inspect resources (icons, embedded binaries, CABs) and externalize large assets so they are not embedded in the EXE. As a last resort for native binaries, executable packers such as UPX can reduce size.

Useful inspection tools: WinDirStat for disk usage, ILSpy for .NET assemblies, and 7‑Zip for examining packed executables. Final checklist: identify the top few large files, decide whether to externalize/compress them, remove debug/test data, and rebuild in Release before redistributing.

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Member Avatar for Comatose

My program is currently 980mb is there any way i can make this smaller?

What is it that your program does? Is it a game, where you are using a whole bunch of images, and if so, what is their format? Is this a zipped file, we are talking about, or the program uncompressed? Another thing, that helpes a little, is making certain that you don't have any unused functions, forms, and modules that are in your program, but are not being referenced and used. The same applies to tools (controls) that are not in use.

Member Avatar for NewVBguy

My program is currently 980mb is there any way i can make this smaller?

Hi,
In addition to all suggestions, If you can avoid using memo fields, alpha, pictures objects and just use numeric fields.

Hope it help.

NewVBguy

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