Like everyone else, I’ve been playing the uninstall-before-we-install dance in preparation for the new Visual Studio 2008 bits.

One hott tip for getting the uninstall part right is to follow ScottGu’s excellent post, Steps to Uninstall VS 2008 Beta2 before installing the VS 2008 Final Release.

One pseudo-problem that my co-workers and I have run into is trying to find those particular programs in the huge list of programs in the list of programs on your box. It’s like the old needle in a stack of needles problem.

Search Driven Navigation

If you’re running on Vista, you can take advantage of the built in search capabilities that seem to be everywhere you need them, and some places you don’t. :)

To find the "Microsoft .NET Compact Framework 3.5" item in that huge list I could scroll and scour the list, wasting untold amounts of my precious time. Or a better approach would be to type that phrase into the Search box in the upper right-hand corner of the window.

For example, by typing "Framework" I was able to limit that ginormous list down to just four things.

Actually, that’s a lie. This particular search dialog actively filters the results as you type. I only really had to type "Fr" and the list was down to four items. Now that’s hot!

If you’re looking for more, Jeff has some interesting stories about his experiences with Vista’s Advanced Search capabilities.

OK, stop reading this post and get back to the uninstall-reboot-install circus that we’ve all come to love.