About this question
We still have one production SQL 2008 R2 Server. Yes, there are plans to upgrade soon, just not immediately. In the meantime, our Vulnerability reports are flagging the server as vulnerable because it has End of Life software:EOL/Obsolete Software: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Detected EOL/Obsolete Software: Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Detected
So we want to see if we can remove these components to resolve the vulnerability.
However, doing due diligence, I noticed that the install date for these under Add/Remove Programs is the same as the install date for SQL Server 2008 R2 itself.
So now I'm thinking these are "part of" SQL Server 2008 R2, and maybe it's not safe to remove them. Googling doesn't reveal anything definitive, with a lot of the found articles no longer available.
My question is can they be removed without negative impact to SQL Server 2008 R2, and if not, can they be upgraded to a version that's not EOL?What is Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 used for?
