title: using Properties.Settings for application settings
body: <p>I use the built-in settings provided by Visual Studio to store simple application settings. Until now, I've accessed this in my application by using the convention:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Properties.Settings.Default.MySetting
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And then call methods like <code>Save</code> by using:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Properties.Settings.Default.Save()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, someone recently told me that it is more correct to access the properties by creating a member variable like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>private Properties.Settings settings = new Properties.Settings()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And then using the member <code>settings</code> to access properties and methods like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>settings.MySetting
  settings.Save()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I vaguely recall that they justified this by describing differences in the way the settings are stored in the user's area.</p>
  
  <p>Can anyone confirm or give further details on the differences? Many thanks.</p>