The Ultimate Visual Studio Tips and Tricks Blog

by Zain Naboulsi

Visual Studio 2012 Update 1: Understanding Code Map

With the addition of Visual Studio Update 1 we introduced a cool new feature called Code Map. ...

Author: zainnab Date: 02/07/2013

Questions from the Field: Restoring Work Items When You Accidentally Delete Them

I had a customer accidentally delete some test cases in Team Foundation Server the other day and...

Author: zainnab Date: 02/06/2013

Visual Studio 2012 New Features Summary

Before I begin digging into some of the stuff in Update 1, I thought it would be a good idea to...

Author: zainnab Date: 02/05/2013

Questions from the Field: Excluding Different Files or Directories on Debug and Release Builds

A customer asked me the other day about excluding different files (or directories) based on the type...

Author: zainnab Date: 02/04/2013

TFS 2012 Update 1: Permissions lost on attaching a collection–fix available

I’ve had some customers that are experiencing this issue so wanted to get it out more broadly...

Author: zainnab Date: 02/01/2013

Visual Studio Update 2 (CTP 2) Available

Download the Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 CTP 2 package now     From Brian Harry’s blog...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/31/2013

Visual Studio 2012 Color Theme Choices

  The other day I had a customer complain about not liking the Light and Dark color themes that...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/31/2013

Win Up To $40,000 in the Windows 8 Apps For Social Good Contest

https://www.netsquared.org/challenge/windows-8-apps-social-good-contest Want to make some money and...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/30/2013

Visual Studio Tools for Git Announced

In case you missed it, we announced the release of Visual Studio Tools for Git today at the ALM...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/30/2013

A Time To Reflect

In lieu of the typical post I wanted to take today to say an extra special thanks to the great folks...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/29/2013

MSDN Features You Need to Know About: MSDN Online Concierge

Did you know as an MSDN subscriber of any level you have access to a personal online valet of...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/24/2013

MSDN Features You Need to Know About: Answers to Just About Any Technical Question

I was originally going to name this article something like “MSDN Forums: What you need to know,” but...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/22/2013

Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 (KB2707250): New Features

In my last post I wrote about installation and the list of bug fixes in Update 1:...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/17/2013

Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 (KB2707250): Bug Fixes

This post is a bit overdue but better late than never.  So let’s talk about Visual Studio...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/15/2013

Additional Use Rights for MSDN subscriptions

On my journey to keep you better informed I will throw in information as I get it sometimes. Just to...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/11/2013

Extending Trials of TFS

I often advocate using virtual machines and, in particular, Brian Keller’s VM for getting up to...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/09/2013

Esoteric Programming Languages

Happy New Year Folks!    It’s been a while since I have blogged and have a lot of catching...

Author: zainnab Date: 01/07/2013

Visual Source Safe Upgrade Tool for Team Foundation Server

I’m finally happy to announce we have just released the Visual Source Safe Upgrade Tool for...

Author: zainnab Date: 11/09/2012

Visual Studio Team Foundation Service Officially released

  In case you haven’t heard yet, we have announced the RTM of our Team Foundation...

Author: zainnab Date: 11/06/2012

Understanding and Setting Up Access to Symbols

    Symbols are vital to the overall debugging effort.  Most of the time we take them...

Author: zainnab Date: 10/05/2012

TFS 2010: What Service Packs and Hotfixes Should I Install?

Grant Holliday wrote a great blog post a while back that I have been meaning to surface to my...

Author: zainnab Date: 10/03/2012

IntelliTrace Debugging Deep Dive Session is Available for Download

  Folks, apologies for going dark for a few weeks but I have been heads down in the creation of...

Author: zainnab Date: 10/02/2012

.NET Framework 4.5 Poster from the Community

  I’ve had a lot of people asking about our famous .NET poster and if there is a version for...

Author: zainnab Date: 09/24/2012

Microsoft Internal Usage of TFS: January - June 2012

  I love data!  And, since I am hyper-focused on all things Visual Studio and Team...

Author: zainnab Date: 09/06/2012

Videos in Visual Studio 2012

The folks at Channel9 have created some video shorts on how to use many of the cool new features in...

Author: zainnab Date: 09/05/2012

Windows Azure Solution Cookbook

I started working with Azure almost five years ago and have been very happy to see it evolve and...

Author: zainnab Date: 09/04/2012

Upgrading to Visual Studio 2012 RTM

Question: Can you upgrade Visual Studio 2012 RC to Visual Studio 2012 RTM? Short Answer: Yes. Long...

Author: zainnab Date: 08/28/2012

For the first time in 25 years we are changing our logo.  You can find our more from Jeffrey...

Author: zainnab Date: 08/24/2012

Kanban for Team Foundation Server

On August 13, 2012, Brian Harry announced that the Team Foundation Service (TFS in the Cloud) now...

Author: zainnab Date: 08/23/2012

Team Foundation Server and GIT Integration with Git-tf

Overview On August 13, 2012, Brian Harry announced our new Team Foundation Server integration with...

Author: zainnab Date: 08/22/2012

Visual Studio 2012 Virtual Launch Event -- September 12, 2012

The Visual Studio 2012 Virtual Launch Event is coming September 12! Make sure to add this free event...

Author: zainnab Date: 08/21/2012

Visual Studio 2012 and Windows 8 Are Now Available

    On August 15th we announced the availability of, both, Visual Studio 2012 and Windows...

Author: zainnab Date: 08/20/2012

On Vacation Until 8/6

Folks, I'll be on vacation until Aug 6th so there will be no posts until the week after I get back....

Author: zainnab Date: 07/10/2012

Visual Studio 2012 New Features: Quick Launch

In the past, finding things deep in the IDE has been a challenge. Visual Studio 2012 introduces...

Author: zainnab Date: 06/26/2012

Visual Studio 2012 New Features: Solution Explorer

I love the title of this one because I’m sure someone will read this and wonder why I think Solution...

Author: zainnab Date: 06/21/2012

Visual Studio 2012 New Features: Preview Tab

  Preview Tab Overview We all explore code and need to move quickly between files when...

Author: zainnab Date: 06/19/2012

Turn Off the Uppercase Menu in Visual Studio 2012

I’ve been seeing a ton of posts lately on this feature so thought I would share here as well....

Author: zainnab Date: 06/14/2012

Why Smart People Are Stupid

Jonah Lehrer the author of “How We Decide” has written an article for the New Yorker...

Author: zainnab Date: 06/13/2012

Visual Studio Feature Packs

[Reader Note: It looks like the formatting is cutting off the table on my main blog page. If you...

Author: zainnab Date: 06/12/2012

Microsoft Positioned as Leader in Application Lifecycle Management Space

Gartner doesn’t allow us to show the famed Magic Quadrant in posts like this but, if you are...

Author: zainnab Date: 06/11/2012

Visual Studio 2012 New Features: Improving User Stories and Requirements with PowerPoint Storyboarding

For Visual Studio Premium and Ultimate users there is a great new add-in for PowerPoint that can...

Author: zainnab Date: 06/07/2012

Visual Studio 2012 New Features: Compatibility (aka Project Round-Tripping)

  Now that Visual Studio 2012 is pretty well baked I thought it would be good to start...

Author: zainnab Date: 06/05/2012

Announcing the Release Candidate (RC) of Visual Studio 2012 and .NET Framework 4.5

  In case you haven’t heard Jason just announced the new RC is available:...

Author: zainnab Date: 05/31/2012

Microsoft Support Lifecycle Home Page

  I get tons of questions from customers on when support will end for a variety of...

Author: zainnab Date: 05/07/2012

Coding Faster v2 Being Considered

    Sara Ford (https://saraford.net) and I had a long talk the other day and are...

Author: zainnab Date: 05/01/2012

Entity Framework 4.1: Expert’s Cookbook

      I recently had the pleasure of reading a great book and wanted to share. ...

Author: zainnab Date: 04/30/2012

Automatically Check for Updates to Visual Studio 11

There is an update to Visual Studio 11 that came out in early April that is available.  You can...

Author: zainnab Date: 04/26/2012

Branching and Merging Deck Available

For those that don’t know yet, I’ve switched roles in Microsoft and am now more focused...

Author: zainnab Date: 04/25/2012

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