John wrote:
I don't want to get into too much technical debate with Geeks - but do I
need Microsoft .NET Framework?

Only for running new applications written with it.

I have been offered an update at 248 Mb. I wonder if I can strip it off as I
don't see what benefit I get from it.

Probably best to uninstall .NET support completely from your machine if
you want to do that. Then (in theory) you'll never get asked about
patching it for security issues!

--
Adrian C