VC++ is slow

[keyvanr]

Hi, not a programming question here. Recently my VC++ IDE is slow. For example it takes about 4 minutes to put a breakpoint on a line or when I hit enter it takes same amount of time to put a new line. Also opening a file takes too long. The amazing thing is that while the code is running and I go to the editor screen then things are as fast as normal. What can be wrong? Thank you.

[VCVCVC]

Ok, There could be lots of dependencies or you can spend a lot of time to investigate on this. But what i think is, if you have a chance, go ahead and re-install VC++. No worries.

The reason is,as i said there might be numerous things that you might not know coz its related to the IDE or might be prob with Virus or dll could have been corrupted.

Considering not to waste time anymore re-installing is the best option. Time is really precious.

[TheCPUWizard]

Or not enough memory (taskmanager will tell you if you are swapping as will perfmon). If you are then adding RAM will help. My personal measurements is for a single core 3.x Ghz processor to be really effective is 3 gig of RAM

[Yves M]

Try to see whether this also happens in a new project that you create on the local disk. If it doesn't then the culprits could be:
- autocomplete/intellisense (in which case you could turn it off)
- the files reside on a server and the connection is slow (upgrade network, work locally)
- your sourcecontrol is slow (switch to a faster sc or check its parameters)

[g_gili]

Or you could try to delete the *.ncb and *.suo files... Perhaps make a backup first and then delete them ...

Best Regards,
Gili

[krmed]

As g_gili noted, delete your .ncb file - but I would also recommend deleting your .aps file.

These files will be recreated as needed, so there is no problem. There should be no need to delete your .suo file, however.

Good luck.

[Skizmo]

My personal measurements is for a single core 3.x Ghz processor to be really effective is 3 gig of RAM

for some programming ??? In my book that's called overkill. I'm running a 2.5 G single core with 512 MB and it runs smoothly.

[Mitsukai]

also what makes u think u need 3 Ghz RAM for a 3.x Ghz processor??

the only thing you need to watch for performance is CPU FSB speed and RAM speed. if they match then u have ratio CPU:RAM 1:1

for this u can download cpuz tool or something semiliar.

is noted before could be your RAM or your intellisense.

[TheCPUWizard]

also what makes u think u need 3 Ghz RAM for a 3.x Ghz processor?

Right now I have running (under Win-2003ES)

VS-2003
VS-2005
Outlook
Word (3 large docs)
Excel
PerfMon
Virtual machine running XP
Virtual machine running Vista
7 small footprint utilities

Very fast response time.

[JVene]

I, too, have info on the *.ncb file (intellisense).

Intellisense is broken, MS knows it, even the SP1 didn't fix it - lots of board discussions between MS folk and developers about it.

Definitely delete the *.ncb file - I'd even bother to do that every time I load the project/solution.

Another tip that seems to work, but ONLY if you have enough RAM, is to make a 'fake' *.ncb file (empty), set the fake *.ncb file to read only!

VS2K5 will launch and complain, asking if it could remove the read only attribute - say NO! The *.ncb will be managed in temporary file/RAM (I don't know which) - but NOT PRESERVED. It will rebuild each launch, which is much better for now.


It seems The Wizard and I kick our machines all over the road )

At any one moment I might have:

- two sessions of VC++ (one on a library, the other on an application),
- MSDN docs,
- another set of docs in a reader,
- Firefox (with perhaps 15 or 20 tabs),
- Nero cutting a DVD or CD
- Photoshop (editing application graphics perhaps, or kids photos)
- 3DS Max (sometimes ver 4.2, sometimes 9) - more application graphics
- SQL Server
- Firebird SQL Server
- Postgres SQL Server (sometimes I must make sure apps work on all 3)
- CuteFTP
- Excel
- WaveLab (audio for the application development)

...and with all that, even 3Gbytes isn't enough.

I'm waiting for 64bit to get really good so I can move to about 16Gybtes RAM )

By then, I hope to go for quad core, too.

[TheCPUWizard]

I'm waiting for 64bit to get really good so I can move to about 16Gybtes RAM )

Im just waiting for the Money to Get a Decent (about $10K) 64bit system. Alas my budget will not support that right now.