Making Applications instead of exe's and installing .net framework

To deploy a project you create in VS.net, you need to create a Project of type: Project Deployment Wizard. It has a wizard that will guide you through the basics of deploying a project. ( Application ) Friends of yours that do not have the .NET framework can download it through Windows Updates. You can also find the distributable file at the msdn.com website. For more advanced users, you can follow the bootstrapper example that Microsoft has, and setup a distribution file that will install the .net framework if the target machine does not already have it.