What’s the point in Microsoft Silverlight?

Every time I get told that there are new updates to be installed, I open it up and somewhere in the list there is Microsoft Silverlight.

I’ve installed it before on my laptop but I uninstalled it because I couldn’t see what the point in it was.

Microsoft claims it enhances the browsing experience, but could someone tell me, how? It’s not like it makes my browsing experience any faster (in fact it probably makes my browsing experience slower!), and I don’t even use IE7 or IE8 so will it benefit me at all?

Microsoft’s web site is full of nagging ads that say Install Microsoft Silverlight, and it kind of bugs me. 

I can try hiding the update in Windows Update but it just comes back every time a new version is released.

Could someone who actually uses it (and finds it useful) tell me what it’s for? I’m just wondering why Microsoft makes such a big deal about it. 

Is it just me missing something that makes it amazing?

2 thoughts on “What’s the point in Microsoft Silverlight?

  1. GEEK! Post author

    Hi there. Well first of all, it looks like the issue relates to Silverlight 2 which is somewhat outdated now. You can now get Silverlight 3 (and 4 is in beta) from http://www.silverlight.net and that may fix your problem.

    If not, you need to re download the DLL file as it looks like it has been corrupted. Download it here and place it in the Silverlight directory (C:/Program Files/Silverlight and then in the folder with a version number. Presuming C: is your hard drive letter). That should solve your problem.

    Let me know if it works.

    Many thanks, GEEK!

  2. Charmaine Villifana

    Hey, I found this article while searching for help with fixing Microsoft Silverlight. I’ve recently switched browsers from Safari to Internet Explorer 7. Just recently I seem to have a issue with loading websites that have Microsoft Silverlight. Every time I go on a page that needs Microsoft Silverlight, the page doesn’t load and I get a “npctrl.dll” error. I cannot seem to find out how to fix it. Any aid getting Microsoft Silverlight to work is very appreciated! Thanks

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