Are they still needed or have they been included in Windows Update? I just did a fresh install of Windows 7 and downloaded all updates.
I had to do it download it separately when I upgraded to an 8320 and minecraft was slow due low per core performance, but now I have Windows 10 and its seems fine
I don't think they were ever officially released with any part of Windows 7, I think they were strictly on a demand basis.
Could be wrong. I installed them for funsis, but I ran without them for quite a while. I didn't notice a difference.
You can install them individually, but they are available as a hotfix for Service Pack 1 through the update service.