Here are this week's set of Connect items that I wanted to bring to your attention to increase visibility (and, more importantly, vote count).  Two are about SQL Server and two are about Connect itself.

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SQL Server

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A cleaner and more reliable way to remove an instance of SQL Server

I asked for this last February; a tool or utility that really removes an instance, since Add/Remove Programs often fails, requires very specific order of operations, and can often leave things behind that block later installations.  It is closed as "fixed" because they plan to release better documentation about it.  I still think that it would be very beneficial to have a tool of some kind so that you don't have to walk through all of the tedious steps listed in some KB article (which I'm not sure has arrived yet).

This item got a lot of attention from some guy named Brian Shepherd, and I will reserve comments about his apparent state of mind when he was adding his two cents.

#329054 : Setup : Please provide a utility that removes an instance
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=329054

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Persist DMV data beyond restarts and failovers

Last May I filed this item, after a conversation with fellow MVP Greg Linwood, asking for the ability to persist DMV data beyond service restarts and failovers.  I have yet to get back to the item to post comments about which DMVs I would favor.  Hopefully you can help with this by voicing your opinions about which ones *you* want to see persisted.

#345055 : DMVs : add option to persist data between restarts
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/SQL/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=345055

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Connect

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Allow us to make attachments visible

Jim Keir posted this suggestion, which asks for the ability to make our attachments visible to the public.  Currently the attachments are visible only to Microsoft (once submitted, not even to the submitter!), due to data privacy concerns.  I appreciate that their may be data security issues, and that attachments should be private by default, but Connect should allow me to specify that specific attachments *can* be viewed by anyone.  My typical workaround for this (since many of my suggestions or bugs involve screen shots) is to also post the screen shot to my web site, and add a URL as part of the Connect item (which you can't make clickable).  All of this is tedious and unnecessary.

#416225 : Attachments to be optionally publicly viewable
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/Connect/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=416225

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Make voting and validation more intuitive

I agree with fellow MVP Adam Machanic here; I have witnessed several people not quite sure how to vote, not realizing that you have to click on the stars, and others who don't understand the difference between voting and validating.  (I also think you should not be able to validate your own issue; you filed it, of course you can reproduce it.  But that's a different issue.)

I am not sure what the best solution is, but I don't think the current solution is adequate.

#367602 : Connect usability: Validation and voting boxes
http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/Connect/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=367602

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