This section covers problems that occur while you are running the debugger.

My project works fine when running under the debugger's control. When I run the project without the debugger, my program crashes.

Running a program under the debugger changes the operating environment in which the program runs. This can have the strange effect of making an otherwise flawed program work correctly. It is difficult to pinpoint the cause of this problem in your code, but there are two likely factors that can cause the odd behavior.

• The debugger slows down the program's execution. If you have code that is time-sensitive, things may happen too quickly when the debugger is not present. Keep this in mind when studying the problem.
• The presence of the debugger can also modify memory management of the project. A block of memory cannot move if the debugger is running, for example. With the debugger absent, the block moves and a memory-related bug results.

• Look for time-sensitive problems, race conditions, and similar factors in your code.
• Look for memory-related problems, such as accessing null pointers or handles, improperly disposing of resource handles, or disposing of handles more than once.