title: VS 2010 c++ Express -- PERIODICALLY fopen function fails on ALL projects
body: <p>I am using VS 2010 C++ Express to develop win32 apps on a 64-bit PC running 64-bit Win 7.</p>
  
  <p>Occasionally, when trying to run an app in debug, the fopen() function will return null values for all of the fields of FILE *fin.  What is interesting is that, when this problem occurs, it occurs in ALL of my VS 2010 C++ Express projects -- including those that previously have run properly in IDE
  without any intervening changes to the source code or to project settings.  </p>
  
  <p>I.e., it is the IDE that appears to be misbehaving -- not my projects that suddenly decided in concert to malfunction and then fix themselves. </p>
  
  <p>This problem has occurred twice before.  The problem persisted thru a series of the following actions:</p>
  
  <p>(1)  Closing and reopening the IDE, </p>
  
  <p>(2)  Restarting my PC, </p>
  
  <p>(3)  Recreating the project, </p>
  
  <p>(4)  Removing, redownloading and reinstalling VS 2010 C++ Express.</p>
  
  <p>The problem was observed to be present after each of these actions.  Finally, a few days after it manifested the problem disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared. </p>
  
  <p>I have visited the answered questions on StackOverflow that are relevant to this issue. None of these address this specific problem.  </p>
  
  <p>Has anyone else experienced this problem and had similar suspicions?</p>
  
  <p>Also, can anyone recommend a good alternative (and free) C++ compiler other than something from Microsoft?</p>