dwain.c (8/7/2012)
I can't help you PROBE your BITMAP (sorry but I couldn't resist ;-)), but my first suggestion would be to remove the INDEX hint and see what that does to performance.It could be the underlying data has changed since that hint was applied and SQL Server may be able to come up with a better plan if you remove the hint.
Make sure you take an accurate timing of the query with and without the HINT, and allow several runs to give SQL a chance to cache a new execution plan.
LOL - yeah I chuckled when I just typed it ino the OP 🙂
All jokes aside 😉 when removing the index hint the optimizer automatically turns it into an index scan...so that's why I was trying to force it to use the index I had created specifically for it.
______________________________________________________________________________Never argue with an idiot; Theyll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience