During our usability trials for ANTS Memory Profiler 5, one of our customers said that to do memory profiling "you'll need a PhD and two days set aside." Hmm... ANTS Memory Profiler 5? 2 days and a Phd?!? More like an hour and a half, and maybe some coffee, if you like (the coffee's optional).

ANTS Memory Profiler 5 has now been released. Get it here:

http://www.red-gate.com/products/ants_memory_profiler/index.htm

What can I say about this fantastic piece of software? Well look, take this questionnaire:

• Do you have a .NET application with a memory problem?
• Do you have a .NET application with any kind of memory leak?
• Does your application ever throw OutOfMemoryExceptions?
• Does your application throw OutOfMemoryExceptions even though it looks like it's not using that much memory?
• Have you ever struggled to find a .NET memory leak?
• Have you ever given up on finding a memory leak even though you know it's there because you just couldn't understand what a memory profiler was telling you?
• Do you avoid memory profilers like the plague because, frankly, they're just too difficult to use?
• Does tracking down memory leaks completely suck your will to live and render you a hollow and lifeless shell of a man/woman?

If the answer to any one of the above question is yes then why haven't you already clicked the download link above? Do it. Do it now. Really. Right now. It's memory profiling made simple, it's amazing, and it will change your life^*.

If you're still a bit unsure, you can find some tutorial videos here, which show just how easy it is to use:

http://www.red-gate.com/supportcenter/Content.aspx?p=ANTS%20Memory%20Profiler&c=ANTS_Memory_Profiler/help/5.0/amp_videos.htm&toc=ANTS_Memory_Profiler/help/5.0/toc62784.htm, or

http://www.youtube.com/user/redgatedotnetteam

I'm also very pleased to say that we've just released a new version of ANTS Performance Profiler as well. You can get version 5 from here:

http://www.red-gate.com/products/ants_performance_profiler/index.htm

This isn't any less cool but, as I've said before, it was ANTS Memory Profiler's turn for a complete overhaul this time around, so it's the real star of the show at the moment. The biggest improvement to the performance profiler is a sweet new profiling mode that collects line level timings, but completely ignores any methods without source. If you have an application with a high level of call complexity in library code, along with the vast majority of time spent there, you should notice a decent performance jump when profiling.

And that's really all there is to say: if you've got performance or memory problems in a .NET application, get downloading and give these puppies a whirl.

*In the, admittedly somewhat limited, sense of making debugging memory problems a lot easier, and thus giving you more free time to catch up on back issues of xkcd: it will not help you find a girlfriend/boyfriend, understand the deep-seated emotional needs of your spouse or significant other, or explore the cosmic and fundamental questions of meaning and existence in a fast moving and hostile world.