duckworth's questions

We just migrated our Microsoft SQL Server from 2005 enterprise to 2008 standard on the same specification hardware. The databases were backed up and then restored to a clean sql 2008 install. The compatibility level is currently at 90 (2005). None of the Enterprise features were being used on 2005 (thus the edition downgrade). We have noticed about a 10-12% CPU utilization increase on 2008 compared to 2005. The only other change was that the SQL 2005 was running a server 2003 x64 and 2008 is running server 2008 x64. We aren't using any full text indexes.

Would the database compatibility level affect performance? We haven't rebuilt any indexes or updated statistics, would that have an impact? What else should we look for that could be affecting performance?

We have been tasked with a security requirement to display the last time a user was logged into the server upon login on our Windows 2003 and 2008 servers. This would apply to local and AD accounts. What is the best way to accomplish this? There doesn't appear to be any built in mechanism to do this and the best idea that we have found was the possibility of using a script with BgInfo.

Whenever I access windows shares from OSX 10.5 it leaves .DS_Store files on the remote filesystem. What are they used for, and are they necessary, and can they be prevented from being created?

I would like to move the default location of my c:\Users\USERNAME to another drive. What is the easiest way to do this and how?

I know that I can move each of my "Special Folders" like Documents, Pictures, etc. but that does not include the AppData folder. Also, many programs and installers incorrectly put stuff in C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents etc. even after I moved Documents to another drive and I end up with duplicate folders.