Delphi 2007 for Win32: getting rid of .NET help

Note: only do this if you're not using another dev tool for .NET! If your only dev tool is Delphi for Win32 and you couldn't care less of .NET, then go ahead!

Removing the .NET help from Delphi 2007's help turned out to be far easier than I thought it would! Just delete the contents of this folder:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v2.0\Docs\1033

That's for an English windows + English .NET 2.0 SDK, so adjust accordingly.

That's an extra 300+ MB of stuff you're not using anyway, so removing it will stop you from getting .NET results for your Delphi or Win32 searches, making the help experience a bit better.

Also, you can manually fine-tune (delete!) individual files from here:

C:\Program Files\CodeGear\RAD Studio\5.0\Help\Doc\PSDK\

Files such as script56.hxs which will stop you from getting windows scripting results. I wouldn't delete them all, as you may need some, so just delete as you go when you find one that you don't need. You can identify them by the ms-help://borland.bds5/script56/xxxxx displayed in the help browser.

The bold word above is the file name in that folder.

As usual, make a backup before you make changes! Make a full copy of those two folders elsewhere or even on a CD/DVD for later use if needed without requiring re-installing things again...

Disclaimer: it worked for me, in both my main dev machine and a clean VM with nothing + Delphi installed but I can't guarantee it will work for you! :)

Note: after you delete some help files, it will recreate the index again, so next help invocation will be slower while it does so. Subsequent invocations will be speedier than before! :)

[EDIT]: Anders Melander pointed out in the newsgroups a not so drastic option, especially if you need the .NET help around for other products. Although it will not improve the F1 experience, it will help you get less extraneous results when opening the help and performing a "manual" search. Due to some limitations in blogspot, I'll simply link to the newsgroups post and you can work from there. In my experience, I found the 3rd step (regedit) not to be necessary.