<p>I have been working with Visual Studio (WinForm and ASP.NET applications using mostly C#) for several months now.  For the most part my IDE is set up fairly standard but I have been wondering what are some suggestions in terms of plugins/settings that you find to be the most useful?</p>

<p><strong>Update</strong>: Thanks for all the great suggestions.  It looks like a general consensus that I should look into 'Resharper' along with some eye-candy with themes and custom fonts.</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>Themes</strong></p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=22e69ae4-7e40-4807-8a86-b3d36fab68d3&amp;displaylang=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Consolas Font Pack for Visual Studio 2005/2008</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VisualStudioProgrammerThemesGallery.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Scott Hanselman's Visual Studio Themes Gallery</a></li>
<li><a href="http://frickinsweet.com/tools/Theme.mvc.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Visual Studio Theme Generator</a></li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Free Tools</strong></p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/df3f0c30-3d37-4e06-9ef8-3bff3508be31" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008</a></li>
<li><a href="http://submain.com/products/ghostdoc.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GhostDoc</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.codeplex.com/hyperAddin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HyperAddin</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IntroducingRockScroll.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RockScroll</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.devexpress.com/Products/Visual_Studio_Add-in/CodeRushX/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CodeRush XPress</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">.NET Reflector</a> - (Not a plugin but still useful)</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Paid Tools</strong></p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Resharper</a> - Free (Open Source), $49 (Academic), $199 (Personal), $349 (Commercial)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.devexpress.com/Products/Visual_Studio_Add-in/Coding_Assistance/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CodeRush with Refactor!™ Pro</a> - $249</li>
</ul>

[{'answer_id': 41914, 'author': 'Simon Keep', 'author_id': 1127460, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1127460', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I have Resharper and SQL Prompt, both are excellent.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 41916, 'author': 'Jason Bunting', 'author_id': 1790, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1790', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p><a href="http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>Resharper</strong></a></p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 41917, 'author': 'kjv', 'author_id': 1360, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1360', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>You could try Resharper from JetBraing (<a href="http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/</a>), the ultimate when it comes to code refactoring. I also use GhostDoc (<a href="http://www.roland-weigelt.de/ghostdoc/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.roland-weigelt.de/ghostdoc/</a>) for helping me with documentation.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 41926, 'author': 'Guy Starbuck', 'author_id': 2194, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/2194', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I second the vote for Resharper.  It really substantially improves the quality of your code.  CodeRush is also good, and more visual, either one of them is worth the money (if you can convince your employer to buy them for you :)).  You would probably not want to use both at the same time, though, since there is a lot of functional overlap.</p>\n\n<p>There\'s a cool free add-in that Scott Hanselman links to called "<a href="http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IntroducingRockScroll.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">rockscroll</a>", that replaces the scroll bar with a visual view of your code, I find it really helpful.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 41944, 'author': 'John Sheehan', 'author_id': 1786, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1786', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Master the built-in keyboard shortcuts (<a href="http://john-sheehan.com/blog/index.php/net-cheat-sheets/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">links to C# and VB keybinding cheatsheets can be found here</a>)</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 41965, 'author': 'Web', 'author_id': 2889, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/2889', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>Personally I like having the ide pleasing to the eye. I think I found a link on Hanselman's blog but I switched to Consolas font slightly bigger than normal with a darker theme.  Makes all the difference.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 41993, 'author': 'Raleigh Buckner', 'author_id': 1153, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1153', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>I agree with the customizing of the theme - it makes the environment a whole lot easier to deal with.</p>\n\n<p>You can choose some of the ones <a href="http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VisualStudioProgrammerThemesGallery.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">from the gallery at Hanselman\'s site</a>, or create one <a href="http://frickinsweet.com/tools/Theme.mvc.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">with this online generator</a>.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 42145, 'author': 'Brad Tutterow', 'author_id': 308, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/308', 'pm_score': 4, 'selected': True, 'text': '<p><strong><a href="http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Resharper</a></strong> is definitely a great tool.  It has a moderate learning curve but is easy to pick up for some simple things and add mastery later.  It is a good price for students and kinda expensive for the rest of us.  Resharper is similar to CodeRush, but seems to have a larger following.</p>\n\n<p><strong><a href="http://www.visualstudiogallery.com/ExtensionDetails.aspx?ExtensionID=df3f0c30-3d37-4e06-9ef8-3bff3508be31" rel="nofollow noreferrer">PowerCommands</a></strong> is a great set of add-ons that comes free from Microsoft.  Things like "Open in Windows Explorer", "Command Prompt Here", and Copy/Paste references.  </p>\n\n<p>A discussion regarding <strong>add-ins</strong> is <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2767/do-you-have-any-recommended-add-onsplugins-for-microsoft-visual-studio">floating around here somewhere</a>.</p>\n\n<p>For straight-up customization, <strong>changing colors</strong> is fun, easy, and gives you a big bang for your buck.  I prefer a slightly personalized version of <a href="http://blog.wekeroad.com/2007/10/17/textmate-theme-for-visual-studio-take-2/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Rob Conery\'s TextMate theme for Visual Studio.</a>  Once you get colors you like, you can just <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zbhkx167(VS.80).aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">export the settings</a> and carry them with you wherever you go.</p>\n\n<p>Related to colors and themes, the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=22e69ae4-7e40-4807-8a86-b3d36fab68d3&amp;displaylang=en" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><strong>Consolas</strong> font pack</a> is pretty nifty and easy on the eye.</p>\n\n<p>And like John recommends, a <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20507/give-me-awesome-visual-studio-keyboard-short-cuts">mastery of <strong>keyboard shortcuts</strong></a> will pay big dividends.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 42242, 'author': 'Anthony Mastrean', 'author_id': 3619, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/3619', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': '<ol>\n<li><a href="http://www.roland-weigelt.de/ghostdoc/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">GhostDoc</a> and <a href="http://www.codeplex.com/hyperAddin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HyperAddin</a> provide automatic generation and formatting of XML comments.</li>\n<li><a href="http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IntroducingRockScroll.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">RockScroll</a> is really great for browsing legacy classes or just getting a visual feel for your own code.</li>\n<li>Install <a href="http://www.testdriven.net/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">TestDriven.NET</a> to get <a href="http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Reflector</a> in your Tools menu (or you could follow these <a href="http://waltritscher.com/blog/ramblings/archive/2006/02/25/811.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">instructions</a>).</li>\n</ol>\n'}, {'answer_id': 42257, 'author': 'Vicent Marti', 'author_id': 4381, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4381', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>Make sure you install a custom color theme. These URLs are a good place to start looking for one:</p>\n\n<p><a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000682.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000682.html</a>\n<a href="http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VisualStudioProgrammerThemesGallery.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VisualStudioProgrammerThemesGallery.aspx</a></p>\n\n<p>I myself love Oren Ellenbogen\'s Dark Scheme. Really pleasant to the eyes. Also, make sure to replace the default font with Consolas or Inconsolata (one is Microsoft\'s, the other is free). They are both awesome.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 171732, 'author': 'Community', 'author_id': -1, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/-1', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<h2>Customize The Context Menu\'s</h2>\n\n<p>I personally customize the context menu\'s to remove the ones I don\'t want and minimize my scroll time. It can also speed up the time taken for the menu\'s to appear.</p>\n\n<p>To do this go to Tools/Customize and Check the "Context Menus" item.  The menu\'s appear on the top of the main design area.  To modify them select the context menu you want and drag and drop items around.  </p>\n\n<p>I usually remove items like "Get Version" in Team Foundation Server as I rarely if ever use it and I can use it from Team Explorer if I need to.  </p>\n\n<p><a href="http://tim.yen.googlepages.com/CustomizeMenus.png/CustomizeMenus-full;init:.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Customize the Menu&#39;s http://tim.yen.googlepages.com/CustomizeMenus.png/CustomizeMenus-full;init:.png</a></p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 3177089, 'author': 'imzrh', 'author_id': 377776, 'author_profile': 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/377776', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>I can't coding without Resharper and GhostDoc,  both are very good, i love  that.</p>\n"}]
['https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/41908', 'https://Stackoverflow.com', 'https://Stackoverflow.com/users/3111/']