Does publishing a project with a reference added but unused ignore it?

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C#

WinForms

I added a reference to Presentation Core 4.0 in my project, then the method in which it is used to check if Win key is down (only in this method Presentation Core 4.0 is used in my project and solution), I removed all references to this method, which means the lines inside this method cannot run, and I forgot to remove the reference to Presentation Core in my project.

I removed the reference to Presentation Core 4.0 from the project. Do I have to publish it again to improve installed program size and/or performance or it's the same?

What I have tried:

I have this method that uses Presentation Core 4.0 but with no references to the mehtod.

static bool isWinPrsd()
{
    if (System.Windows.Input.Keyboard.IsKeyDown(System.Windows.Input.Key.LWin) ||
        System.Windows.Input.Keyboard.IsKeyDown(System.Windows.Input.Key.RWin))
    {
        return true;
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}