To specifically address the question, start by looking at the connection object created by the application within the application code itself. The connection string probably does not have the...

**snicker** These ARE interview questions. I used to work for the company that used those abbreviations.

Dude... quit using SQL Server Central to lie on a resume about your experience....

Just curious, where are your SQL Server tools binaries installed? I wonder if it exhibits the same behavior if SQL Server's tools are installed on a different disk.

If for...

Sure you can! Put a clustered index on the table.

Ok, I know that's splitting...

You simply have to examine the query plans and look for the differences at that level. There are a lot of contributing factors to query performance. Index fragmentation...

While the query is running, run the following script from master. One of the fields returned will be the xml query plan for the entire batch, and if you're...

If you have the database option enabled for automatically updating the statistics, SQL Server will automatically update them UNLESS you've specified the STATISTICS NORECOMPUTE clause for a particular index. ...

I have to agree with Steve here. We are managing literally hundreds of SQL Server 2005 instances in this environment. With 6 cumulative updates since SP2, its next...

No.  In the 64-bit O/S world, /3GB does nothing.

Whats the behavior when you create a single job and do something trivial like SELECT @@VERSION?

Sure, you can have bunches of traces running.  However if you export the trace data to the same location (I.E. the same file) you can't.  I run other traces in...

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SENTENCE WHERE WORD = 'AND';

...

Seriously, its kinda dangerous to make broad generalizations about things like FILL FACTOR.  Certain tables may be heavy write, others are heavy read. ...

Drew, what service pack do you have installed in SQL Server?  Do a SELECT @@VERSION and post the results.

Yes, always use good 'ol T-SQL to do indexes on large tables.  Also you may want to look into the index building options like ONLINE, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS, and ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS or you...

Run this to see if there are any server-side SQL traces running... I'm betting there is one other than the default. 

SELECT * FROM fn_trace_getinfo(0)