title: Setting Objects to Null/Nothing after use in .NET
body: <p>Should you set all the objects to <code>null</code> (<code>Nothing</code> in VB.NET) once you have finished with them? </p>
  
  <p>I understand that in .NET it is essential to dispose of any instances of objects that implement the <code>IDisposable</code> interface to release some resources although the object can still be something after it is disposed (hence the <code>isDisposed</code> property in forms), so I assume it can still reside in memory or at least in part?</p>
  
  <p>I also know that when an object goes out of scope it is then marked for collection ready for the next pass of the garbage collector (although this may take time).</p>
  
  <p>So with this in mind will setting it to <code>null</code> speed up the system releasing the memory as it does not have to work out that it is no longer in scope and are they any bad side effects?</p>
  
  <p>MSDN articles never do this in examples and currently I do this as I cannot 
  see the harm. However I have come across a mixture of opinions so any comments are useful.</p>