GilaMonster (11/14/2013)
Remove the hint unless there is no other way to get the optimiser to choose the index that you know to be best, you know why the index you're hinting is best, why the optimiser isn't picking it and you will test on a regular basis to ensure it's still the best index.
Definitely agree with Gail (as is almost always the case). I will add that you should be doing scheduled statistics updates. You need to modify 20% of the rows for a particular stat to get auto-refreshed, which is very often WAY too long!!
I HIGHLY recommend Ola.Hallengren.com for all of your SQL Server maintenance needs!!
Best,
Kevin G. Boles
SQL Server Consultant
SQL MVP 2007-2012
TheSQLGuru on googles mail service