Here is your weekly helping of Connect goodness.  I added two items from the Connect connection, and an item from the Visual Studio connection.

=================================================

#500228 : Default Data Location Not Being Written To Registry

I was affected by this issue just yesterday, where I had set my default data location to G:\ (a big drive on the SAN) but the file went to C:\Program Files\… good thing I caught it before I pumped the database full of data.

=================================================

#499149 : SQL Server 2008 Rename Escape

I can see where this change in behavior can be dangerous: if you double-click too slowly on an object name in Object Explorer, you can trigger the rename functionality.  If you don't notice and start typing, you could potentially rename your object.  In SQL Server 2005, when you hit the Esc key, the name reverts to the original.  In SQL Server 2008, when you hit the Esc key, your change gets committed.

=================================================

#499145 : Data file autogrowth change in SSMS issues SHRINKFILE

This one can be even more dangerous: trying to change the autogrowth settings for tempdb actually issues a shrinkfile command?  Just another reason to always use DDL commands rather than relying on the UI crutch with a trick up its sleeve.

=================================================

#495966 : Connect site is frustratingly unpredictable

Connect has good days, and then it has bad days.  There are some periods where doing just about anything in Connect (usually around searching) will yield an ugly error page.  A few weeks ago I had a day that was terribly bad.  So I did what they said, I copied some of my Error ID GUIDs and reported them.  They responded to the ticket two weeks later, shrugging my experience off as a result of the XBox survey.  Which happened two weeks *after* I reported my problems.  No explanation in the ticket, mind you, just closed as "not reproducible" — twice.  What is the point of saving the Error IDs and reporting the problems if nobody is even going to look at them?

=================================================

#344765 : Firefox loops and cannot sign in

While this happens to me on a Mac, where I perform about 99.9% of my Connect interaction, it has also happened to users on Windows.  This symptom is biting me as we speak… I need to use Safari today because even after clearing my cookies, Firefox behaves this way (click to enlarge):

My suggestion is to introduce a new authentication scheme for Connect.  Be like Expedia : get rid of Windows Live Login.

=================================================

#499047 : Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 not running as Administrator on Windows 7 

I experienced the same issue as Nuno, on Windows Server 2008 R2, and whether I try using .  I was able to get the IDE to run by first running from a command prompt: devenv /resetuserdata.  However I think if Visual Studio fails to launch because something is corrupt from user data (which is probably going to be the case for a lot of users who are upgrading from a previous version), it should automatically try that instead of making us scour the Internet for this command line option.  The error message "The application cannot start" is not good enough to make that fix apparent.