I've just posted an article on the pitfalls of profiling services with the Visual Studio profiler. It includes a sample service with a quick walkthrough. Enjoy. Profiling Windows™ Services with the Visual Studio Profiler

Typically, one can use the sampling profiler to nail down the hot spot in an application. Having done that, what does one do when the sampling data doesn't provide enough information? The trace profiler can offer up more detail, particularly if the issue revolves around thread interaction. However, if...

I've frequently heard the question asked, "Can I use the profiler on a Virtual PC?" It has even come up on the blog feedback a few times. My answer has always been, "Theoretically, yes." I didn't want to post this answer externally until I'd actually gotten around to trying it myself. I've finally...

I had a nice long email chat with members of the Virtual PC team. The good news: The Virtual PC emulates the host processor well enough that our kernel-mode driver can detect what features are enabled. The bad news: The Virtual PC does not emulate an APIC or performance counters. So, if you...

I'm so pleased. Someone did something exciting and dangerous with the profiler. In case you're not reading the newsgroups, an intrepid customer tried to profile on a Virtual PC , and discovered that it only leads to pain and misery via the BSOD. So don't do that. Seriously, is this something people...

A bunch of the guys on the team I work for have been starting up blogs. I started feeling left out, which made me very angry. It appears all blogs start with "Hi, I'm a developer who does X and I'm going to talk about Y and maybe Z." It's all part of Microsoft's new image -- we're transparent now...