Do you ever do a FULL SCAN on the statistics or just rely on the default behavior? The thing is, rebuilding the index on Friday updates the statistics. Running another...

It's even possible that the index is actually not selective enough for the optimizer to choose it for the query. Even though you're forcing it's use makes the query run...

Not unless I've missed it to. If the value of a number is -3, it's -3, not 3 with some negative sign kept elsewhere that may or may not change...

Just a vote. 1,2,4, yes because I've done them.

3. I'm not sure, but I lean towards no. I guess it depends on how you create the report. I'm just not...

Here is an entry in the Books Online (SQL Server documentation) that should get you started. It includes sample code.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa225983(SQL.80).aspx

You don't really have any options in SQL Server 2000. The best you can do is check after each statement for an error value and use a GO TO to...

I like that clean up. Fewer joins and a simpler query. Nicely done.

Thanks for making me look at the query again. I've still got a bit of the debugging...

That's a very good description of how to get started. If you need something a bit more fundamental, try this article on SimpleTalk[/url].

I wouldn't recommend that either for the same reasons. Itzik Ben-Gan has a great set of example scripts that show how using NOLOCK & other dirty read mechanisms can lead...

Easily done. You can set up a Profiler job to look exactly like what you want to monitor. Export that job to a SQL file using File, Export, Script Definition....

From the books online:

Setting Options Without Rebuilding

By using the SET clause in the ALTER INDEX statement, you can set the following index options without rebuilding the index:

ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS

ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS

IGNORE_DUP_KEY

These options are...

[script]ALTER INDEX x ON z

REBUILD WITH (FILLFACTOR = 100);

[/script]

Off hours information of system slowness?

I'm guessing that setting a trace using Profiler and getting monitoring information using Performance Monitor will do what you need.

If you use the read uncommitted, you can, not only get partially updated records, but duplicate or missing records since page splits and reorders due to changes in the data...

You might want to do a search of the scripts over on the left. Look for functions that convert comma delimited lists into a table. That way you don't have...