asp.net and vs2008...

ok this is gonna sound like im really bashing the products but im really not ... im trying to do a project with them for the first time and im struggling to understand how its all supposed to work first of all vs2008 is slow as molasses to the point of being almost unusable ... trying to build the simplest web page is so convoluted i almost cant quite believe it ... is it really so complex? why? i have a dual core machine with a 7200 200gb hdd and 2gb ram with a good nvidia video card ... this is really how one builds web sites with asp.net or is there a simpler way? (please tell me there is an easier way!!) again im not bashing the products im genuinely asking if it really has to be so cumbersome