Almost every weekday morning I read Steve Jones' thoughts published in the SQLServerCentral newsletter editorial section. Today (24 Mar 2006) he mentioned SQL Server Management Studio loads and opens slowly. I agree with Steve - I hate waiting for software to load.

As a developer, I know it's a trade-off between "at my fingertips" functionality and having to wait for everything to load as I click on it, and I think making me wait once at the beginning is the right choice - but it doesn't help... I still hate waiting.

I found a couple of changes that helped me. I'm sure there are more and I encourage you to add your tips and tricks as comments.

First, I open the Registered Servers view (View, Registered Servers):

Next, I register some servers (right-click Database Engine in Registered Servers view, click New, then click Server Registration):

Next, open SSMS Options (Tools, Options):

Finally, I set the environment to "Open empty environment":

Click OK to accept the changes.

This shaves some time off opening the SSMS environment. Again, please add your tips and tricks!

:{> Andy