Here are a few things I recommend checking anytime you have
poor performance when building projects/solutions (note: this list will
continue to grow as I hear new ones - so check back in the future):
1) Watch out for
Virus Checkers, Spy-Bots, and Search/Indexing Tools
VS hits the file-system a lot, and obviously needs to
reparse any file within a project that has changed the next time it
compiles. One issue I've seen reported several times are cases where
virus scanners, spy-bot detecters, and/or desktop search indexing tools
end up monitoring a directory containing a project a little too closely, and
continually change the timestamps of these files (they don't alter the contents
of the file - but they do change a last touched timestamp that VS also
uses). This then causes a pattern of: you make a change, rebuild, and
then in the background the virus/search tool goes in and re-searches/re-checks
the file and marks it as altered - which then causes VS to have to re-build it
again. Check for this if you are seeing build performance issues, and consider
disabling the directories you are working on from being scanned by other
programs. I've also seen reports of certain Spybot utilities causing
extreme slowness with VS debugging - so you might want to verify that you
aren't having issues with those either.
2) Turn off AutoToolboxPopulate in the
Windows Forms Designer Options
There is an option in VS 2005 that will cause VS to
automatically populate the toolbox with any controls you compile as part of
your solution. This is a useful feature when developing controls since it
updates them when you build, but I've seen a few reports from people who find
that it can cause VS to end up taking a long time (almost like a hang) in some
circumstances. Note that this applies both to Windows Forms and Web
Projects. To disable this option, select the Tools->Options menu item,
and then unselect the Windows Forms Designer/General/AutoToolboxPopulate
checkbox option (for a thread on this see: http://forums.asp.net/1108115/ShowPost.aspx).
3) Examine which 3rd party packages are
running in Visual Studio
There are a lot of great 3rd party VS packages that you can
plug into Visual Studio. These deliver big productivity wins, and offer
tons of features. Occasionally I've seen issues where performance or
stability is being affected by them though. This is often true in cases
where an older version (or beta) of one of these packages is being used
(always keep an eye out for when a manufacturer updates them with
bug-fixes). If you are seeing issues with performance or stability, you
might want to look at trying a VS configuration where you uninstall any
additional packages to see if this makes a difference. If so, you can
work with the 3rd party manufacturer to identify the issue.
