I just moved to windows XP and got myself Visual Studio .NET Professional. I just need Visual C++ .NET and nothing else. The installer gives these options and i dont know which components i need and which i dont.

1. Visual C++ Class & Template Libraries
ATL MFC Shared Libraries ANSI
ATL MFC Source Code
ATL MFC Static Libraries ANSI
ATL MFC Shared Libraries Unicode
ATL MFC Static Libraries Unicode

2. Visual C++ Run-Time Libraries
Visual C++ Dynamic CRT Libraries
Visual C++ CRT Source Code
Visual C++ Static Single-Threaded CRT Libraries
Visual C++ Static Multi-Threaded CRT Libraries

3. Visual C++ Tools
MFC Trace Utility
Spy++
OLE/COM Object Viewer
ActiveX Control Test Container
Visual C++ Error Lookup
ISAPI Web Debug Tool
Win32 Platform SDK Tools

If i select all the components then the total size exceeds 480 MB!!. I just want to do C/C++ programming like i do in my borland 5.5. I do have a plan to learn MFC in the near future, so i will allow MFC classes and files to be installed. Please tell me which components i need to install...

Well, the tools aren't very big as I recall, though Spy++ is about all I ever use.

The source is huge, but man is it useful to see what is actually happening when there is a question ("Can I pass NULL to strcmp()?")

Unless you need UNICODE, you could safely dump those.

On the other hand, there's now a 5GB USB hard drive for about $170, so you could just install the whole darn thing. :-)

THE VISUAL C++ .NET ITSELF WITH ALL THESE THREE CATEGORIES UNCHECKED TAKES ABOUT 310.51 MB

310.51 MB + the followings....

1. Visual C++ Class & Template Libraries
ATL MFC Shared Libraries ANSI----23.42 MB
ATL MFC Source Code-----------------16.02 MB
ATL MFC Static Libraries ANSI-----46.42 MB
ATL MFC Shared Libraries Unicode-22.64 MB
ATL MFC Static Libraries Unicode--47.09

2. Visual C++ Run-Time Libraries
Visual C++ Dynamic CRT Libraries-------------------3.58 MB
Visual C++ CRT Source Code--------------------------10.92 MB
Visual C++ Static Single-Threaded CRT Libraries-15.31 MB
Visual C++ Static Multi-Threaded CRT Libraries---15.94 MB

3. Visual C++ Tools
MFC Trace Utility---------------- 0.11 MB
Spy++------------------------------- 0.70 MB
OLE/COM Object Viewer------- 0.28 MB
ActiveX Control Test Container 0.39 MB
Visual C++ Error Lookup--------- 0.06 MB
ISAPI Web Debug Tool--------- 0.43 MB
Win32 Platform SDK Tools----- 10.74 MB

What is this i m trying to install!!!!! A MAMMOTH?

That figure just for VC++.NET doesn't startle me too much. My "Typical" install of the entire Visual Studio.NET Enterprise Architect takes up nearly 5 GB if you count the MSDN documentaton.

What's a few hundred megs total?
Install everything, you can always remove parts if after a few months it turns out you never use them

So then i can move around and do my develepment in any pc? Sounds kool but i think while installing Visual C++ .NET the installer creates some additional file in the windows directory and some other system locations. Suppose I have WindowsXP installed in C drive and i install only Visual C++.NET in my USB hard drive. Now can i run visual C++ by plugging the usb harddrive into any pc(win 2000/win XP)? I have never worked with a USB hard-drive and i apologise in advance if i said something stupid.

You probably won't be able to do as you've described. But, you should be able to at least install the actual program files to the hard drive, if available space was a concern.

What I do is carry all my sources and documentation on a flashdrive (together with an installer for VI) so that I can at least edit everywhere.
I also often carry at least an installer for a compiler with me.

I mainly work in Java though, and installing a JDK doesn't violate any license such as installing VS would on someone else's machine.

well i think i can do my work fine in borland and devC++. May be i will install VC++ when i start learning MFC or DirectX. For now it's just not worth it.