Knowledge Is Power

Following are some of the various applications that can be built using Visual Studio.

• Console applications: These applications run from the command line and do not include a graphical interface, but are great for small tools or anything that will be run by another application.
• Windows forms applications: These are Windows desktop applications written using the .NET framework; since they are .NET applications, they require that the .NET framework be on any computer that will run the application.
• Windows services: Services are applications that run in the background while your computer is running. These are usually applications that will have to perform scheduled tasks or handle continuous network requests.
• ASP.NET applications: ASP.NET is a powerful technology that is used to create dynamic web applications, often driven by a database. Many popular websites are written using ASP.NET, including those of e-commerce giants like Dell.
• ASP.NET web services: ASP.NET provides a complete web services model that allows you to quickly and easily create web services.
• Windows Mobile applications: Windows Mobile applications can run on devices that include the Compact framework; these include Pocket PC devices, as well as cell phones running the Microsoft Smartphone platform.
• MFC/ATL/Win32 applications: You can also still create traditional MFC, ATL, or Win32 applications using C++. These applications do not need the .NET runtime to run, but also don't include many of the benefits of working with the .NET framework.
• Visual Studio add-ins: That's right, you can use Visual Studio to write new functionality to be added into Visual Studio.
• And more: Visual Studio also includes projects to deploy your application, work with databases, create reports, and more.

It is an object oriented programming language. it contains a systematic collection of classes and objects.
please read Object oriented term better.
Visual Basic .NET comes with thousands of built-in classes which are ready to be used.
So it is easier to write in VB.net then Visual Basic. once we have learn how to use .net framework.
Creative Calligrapher dot com has answered every thing. But the Question of Why we use it lies open. I will try to fill in the Gap.

If you are appearing in a VB exam you will use it , if you are interested in earning money you will use it, if you are interested in just programing you will use it, if you are a VB programmer you will use it, if you have a lot of time in your hand you will use it, now the main reason if you like the kick of success (virtually) you would use it. VB is a relatively easy language to learn and sovling tricky problems gives a feeling of success (quick and deserving success), so just for the sake of it you can use it

Vb.net is a framework. means simply it is a collection of large library to solve different programming needs when a programmer wants to write a software. A library is not of books but of small different collection of code .

Vb.net is a Visual Basic in .net framework. means one who knows Visual Basic then VB.NET is an extention of Visual Basic

There have been nine versions of Visual Basic up to the current version. The first six versions were all called Visual Basic. But in 2002, Microsoft introduced Visual Basic .NET 1.0, a completely redesigned and rewritten version that was a key part of a whole computer software revolution at Microsoft. The first six versions were all "backward compatible" which means that later versions of VB could handle programs written with an earlier version. Because the .NET architecture was such a radical change, any programs written in Visual Basic 6 or earlier had to be rewritten before they could be used with .NET. It was a controversial move at the time, but VB.NET has now proven to be a great programming advance.
One of the biggest changes in VB.NET was the use of a object oriented software architecture (OOP). (Tutorials on the site explain OOP in much more detail.) VB6 was 'mostly' OOP, but VB.NET is totally OOP. The rules of object orientation are recognized as a superior design. Visual Basic had to change or it would have become obsolete.

In the beginning, there was BASIC and it was good. Really! I mean, really the beginning. And yes, really good. BASIC ("Beginner's All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code") was designed as a language to teach people how to program by Professors Kemeny and Kurtz at Dartmouth College w-a-a-a-y back in 1963. It was so successful that soon a lot of companies were using BASIC as their programming language of choice. In fact, BASIC was the very first PC language because Bill Gates and Paul Allen wrote a BASIC interpreter for the MITS Altair 8800, the computer most people accept as the first PC, in machine language.
Visual Basic, however, was created by Microsoft in 1991. The main reason for the first version of Visual Basic was to make it a lot faster and easier to write programs for the new, graphical Windows operating system. Before VB, Windows programs had to be written in C++. They were expensive and difficult to write and usually had a lot of bugs in them. VB changed all that.

It's a computer programming system developed and owned by Microsoft. Visual Basic was originally created to make it easier to write programs for the Windows computer operating system. The basis of Visual Basic is an earlier programming language called BASIC that was invented by Dartmouth College professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz. Visual Basic is often referred to using just the initials, VB. Visual Basic is easily the most widely used computer programming system in the history of software.