so just a performance question here... for some reason, this query runs LONG if i leave it the way it is (long as in i've let it run for a good 30 minutes w/ no results). but if i take the left join on the DNC and move it to the outside query (before the where recid=1) it's done in 3 seconds... any insight on why it might be working like that?select STATE,COUNT(state)from (select T.*,z.COUNTY,ROW_NUMBER() over (partition by t.phone order by t.date_appen desc) as recidfrom TestDB.tru.truecredit tleft join zipinfo.dbo.GeoLookup z on z.zip = t.zipleft join Residential.dbo.dnc d on d.tl1 = t.PHONEleft join Korey.dbo.supp s on LEFT(s.lname,5) = LEFT(t.lname,5) and LEFT(s.address,10) = LEFT(t.address,10) and LEFT(s.zip,5) = LEFT(t.zip,5)where 1=1 and t.date_appen between getdate()-180 and getdate()-30 and d.tl1 is null and t.phone>'' and s.lname is null and s.address is null and s.zip is null and t.STATE in ('AL','AK','AZ','CA','CT','DC','FL','IL','IN','LA','MD', 'MA','MI','MT','NE','NH','NM','NY','ND','OK','OR','PA', 'SD','TX') and t.rev16>=20000 ) as fwhere recid=1group by STATE order by state