<p>Why does Visual studio take so long to delete a file from the solution tree?  The app freezes and sits there for what feels like an eternity. </p>

<p>If I delete the file from the file system first, then delete it in the solution it happens instantly.</p>

<p>Is there an option I can set somewhere to avoid this?</p>

I've found that this is sometimes a symptom of project size. Deleting a file from a project with hundreds of files can take 30 seconds on my (admittedly slow) work computer. But deleting one of two files in a project is usually instant.