Pimping my Eclipse startup and other shizzle

A couple weeks ago when writing the entry, UnEclipsing CFEclipse Line Numbers, I stumbled on a couple interesting settings in preferences to pimp my Eclipse EDI

On the net is plenty of info for tweaking eclipse.ini file or adding variables to eclipse executable for performance but I hadn't seen anything about the settings below.

Plug-ins activated on startup

Windows --> Preferences then type "startup" in filter or navigate to General --> Startup and Shutdown. The settings I found interesting were "Refresh workspace on startup" and "Plug-ins activated on startup". I unchecked all plugins I don't use like Eclipse Monkey and most Aptana plugins.

Always run in background

Windows --> Preferences then type "background" in the filter or navigate to General. I toggled on "Show heap status" and "Always run in background". Not really a performance tweak but will allow processes not to bring my use of Eclipse to a halt. And I can easily see my heap size in case I need to modify it.

Workspace

Windows --> Preferences --> General --> Workspace. I checked Build, Refresh, and Save automatically. This is more for builds but Refresh automatically does run every so often.

Aptana Start page

Windows --> Preferences then type "start page" in the filter or navigate to Aptana --> Start Page. I set the option to "Never display after startup". No more annoying Aptana splash page. I read people complaining Aptana taking over Eclipse and I noticed it becoming more intrusive also. This change and the next below should help.

Automatic Updates

Windows --> Preferences --> Aptana --> Updates, you could shut off the options to improve startup, but I have Aptana find new updates and download automatically checked on. I do the same with general Eclipse plugins under Windows --> Preferences --> Install/Update. I check "Automatically select mirrors" under Install/Update --> Automatically Updates and I specify "look for updates" every Monday and again download automatically.

SVN Menu Icon

Nothing to do with performance but a cool setting I didn't know existed. Windows --> Preferences --> Team --> SVN --> Menu Icons, you can set icons Eclipse uses for Subversion. My options were default, TortoiseSVN, or Subversion. Very neat.