After installing a new version of VS.NET there are three environment
settings I always change from the default settings to make things a little
better and save me time using VS.NET 2008.
Faster popup windows
The first setting is mostly a visual change, but it does
make the response time of the environment better. The setting is to turn off
the "Animate environment tools". I usually "Auto Hide" all
my secondary windows to leave the most screen real estate possible to the code
editing window. This setting controls how those “Auto Hide” windows pop up when
you float over the corresponding tab. The default behavior for those windows is
to slide out; however, if the animation is off the window will pop out
immediately.
To change this setting, choose "Tools" | “Environment"
| "General", then uncheck the "Animate environment tools"
checkbox. Note: as you can see there is also a slide bar to control the speed
of animation, but who needs to wait for the animation at all, save that for
your end-users.
Finding files in Solution Explorer
There are times when editing a file you want to get to that
file’s node in the Solution Explorer. If you have a rather large solution with several
projects, files and sub-folders it can be a difficult to find your file
quickly. There is a setting that will track the active item in the Solution
Explorer, which means you can easily find the currently open item there. To
enable this setting, choose "Tools" | "Projects and
Solutions" | "General" and check the aptly named "Track
Active Item in Solution Explorer" option.
Opening the Code editor by default
If you are working client side, most of your source files
probably correspond to a form. As you may know the VS.NET default behavior when
you double-click the form name in the Solution Explorer is to open the form designer.
To get to your code directly you need to right-click the form name and choose
"View Code", or you need to open the designer then press F7 to get to
the code editor. There is a simple way to change the default behavior to open
the code editor on the double-click. In the “Solution Explorer” right-click one
of your form files, choose “Open With…” from the popup menu, then select
“CSharp Editor” and press the “Set as Default” button on the right.
