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I'm using VS 2010 since we're developing an app in .Net 4 and the performance is driving me crazy. It's mostly bad when I don't view the IDE for a while (such as when I get pulled away for a help desk call or come in in the morning).

I realize it's probably built in WPF which unloads its resources when unused, but the few minute delay while it loads everything back up is really annoying. I've also noticed some significant delays when opening files or compiling.

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  • 1
    This question would better fit on Super User as they give objective answers on computer hardware and software, while we are into subjective discussions about software development.
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 13:28
  • 6
    You will get better answers here. I unknown one VS user who aren't programmer.
    – Maniero
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 16:41
  • If you can vote and think this is a useful question or it have useful answers below, please vote up. StackExchange sites need votes to build a good community. You can give 30 votes per day, don't waste them. Specially users with high reputation and low counting votes given please read this: meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/393/…
    – Maniero
    Commented Oct 5, 2010 at 19:31
  • Check Raj Aththanayake's Blog post out, it has a lot of helpful tips to improve the performance of VS2010 and Resharper.
    – Piers Myers
    Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 15:44
  • 4
    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about a programming tool (IDE), which would normally belong on Stack Overflow, but is too old to migrate.
    – user40980
    Commented Sep 14, 2014 at 0:49

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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I had a similar problem after installing a couple of extensions. I ended up disabling them all and enabling them only when I actually use them. This really helped the experience.

EDIT: There seems to be a problem with certain Video Cards and drivers. You can check all the info here: Link

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  • Thanks, but I don't have any extensions installed
    – Rachel
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 16:17
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    Hmm, have you checked this out? blogs.msdn.com/b/ddperf/archive/2010/09/16/…
    – Arturo Molina
    Commented Sep 25, 2010 at 3:14
  • I'm not sure if its the registry key or the VS setting, but my performance seems much better now! Thank you!
    – Rachel
    Commented Sep 27, 2010 at 12:14
  • Marking your answer as the Accepted one because your comment lead me to a solution even if the Answer didn't. Could you edit your answer to include the link?
    – Rachel
    Commented Sep 27, 2010 at 13:46
  • You got it! ;-)
    – Arturo Molina
    Commented Sep 27, 2010 at 20:56
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Get a faster machine?

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  • I didn't think my machine was that bad... Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4400 @ 2.00GHz, 1.20GHz, 2GB of RAM
    – Rachel
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 14:24
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    Think you need more than 2GB ram for VS 2010 - it's a memory monster
    – Jaco Pretorius
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 14:43
  • if you go too high, you will have to make sure your running a 64bit os, otherwise you probably wont see that extra ram :(
    – Muad'Dib
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 15:16
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    I'm running VS2010 on a 1GB machine now... it only takes up ~200MB. Is that unusual?
    – Note to self - think of a name
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 15:23
  • Ouch. 4gb seems to be a necessity these days for WPF.
    – user3792
    Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 19:32
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In addition of the Muad'Dib answer, I would recommend you a simple upgrade:

Replace you old hard drive by a solid state drive.

The performance increase of Visual Studio .NET is incredible.

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  • 1
    I can confirm that, I have 2 striped Intel X25-M drives and Visual Studio flies.
    – ChaosPandion
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 14:28
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    If you consider the relation price/capacity of the SSD incompatible with your needs then go to a good Hybrid HDD. Anyway I would consider a SSD + HDD. SSD is the best upgrade you can do.
    – Maniero
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 16:47
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    I think that a developer should have the best machine available, this include the best SSD available.
    – user2567
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 16:58
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    @Pierre just remember to also test your software's startup performance on a lowly consumer machine that doesn't have 8GB RAM and a $500 SSD :)
    – Roman Starkov
    Commented Jan 24, 2011 at 0:57
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    @romkyns: Your suggestion is good, but I'm afraid it falls in the category of "means well". People easily talk about doing testing on a slower machine, but I've never ever seen anyone do it, with an eye to fixing performance issues.
    – Mike Dunlavey
    Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 15:54
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Are you running anti-virus software? If so, try turning it off for a while and see if you notice an improvement. It may be that it's configured for on-access scanning of certain file types, which can be a real performance killer with typical developer usage patterns.

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  • We have Symantec AntiVirus. Network admin has it so we can't turn it off or tamper with it, but perhaps I can ask him to add an exception for the VS project directory
    – Rachel
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 16:16
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With 2GB of RAM, I would really start right there. The larger the projects in your solutions, the more RAM you will need.

When you're away from VS and resume, do you notice the hard drive working very hard? That's an indicator it's using the disk to handle increased demands for RAM... RAM runs in nanoseconds, disks in milliseconds, so you can see the problem.

RAM is cheap (2GB should be well less than 100USD unless your machine is very old), but your OS may limit how much you can have. It also is as simple of an upgrade as you can pull off in most cases.

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  • 3
    I wouldn't go with less than 4GB.
    – Maniero
    Commented Sep 24, 2010 at 16:42
  • I didn't notcied any significant improvement 2GB 32bit vs 4GB 64bit...
    – Nazgob
    Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 15:58

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