diff --git a/src/Build.UnitTests/BackEnd/MockTaskBuilder.cs b/src/Build.UnitTests/BackEnd/MockTaskBuilder.cs
index 5dd66b6e929..83e60f427af 100644
--- a/src/Build.UnitTests/BackEnd/MockTaskBuilder.cs
+++ b/src/Build.UnitTests/BackEnd/MockTaskBuilder.cs
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ public Task<WorkUnitResult> ExecuteTask(TargetLoggingContext targetLoggingContex
             }
 
             ProjectOnErrorInstance errorTask = task as ProjectOnErrorInstance;
-            if (null != errorTask)
+            if (errorTask != null)
             {
                 ErrorTasks.Add(errorTask);
             }
diff --git a/src/Build.UnitTests/BackEnd/RequestBuilder_Tests.cs b/src/Build.UnitTests/BackEnd/RequestBuilder_Tests.cs
index ea23951d312..5e68ff11991 100644
--- a/src/Build.UnitTests/BackEnd/RequestBuilder_Tests.cs
+++ b/src/Build.UnitTests/BackEnd/RequestBuilder_Tests.cs
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@ public Task<BuildResult> BuildTargets(ProjectLoggingContext loggingContext, Buil
                 return Task<BuildResult>.FromResult(result);
             }
 
-            if (null != _newRequests)
+            if (_newRequests != null)
             {
                 string[] projectFiles = new string[_newRequests.Length];
                 PropertyDictionary<ProjectPropertyInstance>[] properties = new PropertyDictionary<ProjectPropertyInstance>[_newRequests.Length];
diff --git a/src/Build.UnitTests/Evaluation/ExpressionShredder_Tests.cs b/src/Build.UnitTests/Evaluation/ExpressionShredder_Tests.cs
index 660f95455c2..920b2b13a58 100644
--- a/src/Build.UnitTests/Evaluation/ExpressionShredder_Tests.cs
+++ b/src/Build.UnitTests/Evaluation/ExpressionShredder_Tests.cs
@@ -442,7 +442,7 @@ private void VerifySplitSemiColonSeparatedList(string input, params string[] exp
             var actual = ExpressionShredder.SplitSemiColonSeparatedList(input);
             Console.WriteLine(input);
 
-            if (null == expected)
+            if (expected == null)
             {
                 // passing "null" means you expect an empty array back
                 expected = new string[] { };
diff --git a/src/Build.UnitTests/FileLogger_Tests.cs b/src/Build.UnitTests/FileLogger_Tests.cs
index 0fefab60bc5..e06c154ba57 100644
--- a/src/Build.UnitTests/FileLogger_Tests.cs
+++ b/src/Build.UnitTests/FileLogger_Tests.cs
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ public void BasicNoExistingFile()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != log) File.Delete(log);
+                if (log != null) File.Delete(log);
             }
         }
 
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ public void InvalidFile()
                 }
                 finally
                 {
-                    if (null != log) File.Delete(log);
+                    if (log != null) File.Delete(log);
                 }
             }
            );
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ public void SpecificVerbosity()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != log) File.Delete(log);
+                if (log != null) File.Delete(log);
             }
         }
 
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ public void InvalidEncoding()
                 }
                 finally
                 {
-                    if (null != log) File.Delete(log);
+                    if (log != null) File.Delete(log);
                 }
             }
            );
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ public void ValidEncoding()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != log) File.Delete(log);
+                if (log != null) File.Delete(log);
             }
         }
 
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ public void ValidEncoding2()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != log) File.Delete(log);
+                if (log != null) File.Delete(log);
             }
         }
 
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ public void BasicExistingFileNoAppend()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != log) File.Delete(log);
+                if (log != null) File.Delete(log);
             }
         }
 
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ public void BasicExistingFileAppend()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != log) File.Delete(log);
+                if (log != null) File.Delete(log);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/BuildManager/BuildManager.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/BuildManager/BuildManager.cs
index c8a2838afbb..0e59f2e1fd6 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/BuildManager/BuildManager.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/BuildManager/BuildManager.cs
@@ -891,7 +891,7 @@ public GraphBuildResult Build(BuildParameters parameters, GraphBuildRequestData
         /// </summary>
         public void ShutdownAllNodes()
         {
-            if (null == _nodeManager)
+            if (_nodeManager == null)
             {
                 _nodeManager = ((IBuildComponentHost)this).GetComponent(BuildComponentType.NodeManager) as INodeManager;
             }
@@ -1971,7 +1971,7 @@ private void PerformSchedulingActions(IEnumerable<ScheduleResponse> responses)
                         {
                             NodeInfo createdNode = _nodeManager.CreateNode(GetNodeConfiguration(), response.RequiredNodeType);
 
-                            if (null != createdNode)
+                            if (createdNode != null)
                             {
                                 _noNodesActiveEvent.Reset();
                                 _activeNodes.Add(createdNode.NodeId);
@@ -2142,7 +2142,7 @@ private void CheckAllSubmissionsComplete(BuildRequestDataFlags? flags)
         /// </summary>
         private NodeConfiguration GetNodeConfiguration()
         {
-            if (null == _nodeConfiguration)
+            if (_nodeConfiguration == null)
             {
                 // Get the remote loggers
                 ILoggingService loggingService = ((IBuildComponentHost)this).GetComponent(BuildComponentType.LoggingService) as ILoggingService;
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/BuildManager/BuildSubmission.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/BuildManager/BuildSubmission.cs
index d6a02bd3650..3a53fbbf3ee 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/BuildManager/BuildSubmission.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/BuildManager/BuildSubmission.cs
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ private void CheckForCompletion()
                 {
                     _completionEvent.Set();
 
-                    if (null != _completionCallback)
+                    if (_completionCallback != null)
                     {
                         void Callback(object state)
                         {
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/BuildRequestEngine/BuildRequestEngine.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/BuildRequestEngine/BuildRequestEngine.cs
index 2cf6ea5f8ed..bd5d8815eb6 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/BuildRequestEngine/BuildRequestEngine.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/BuildRequestEngine/BuildRequestEngine.cs
@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@ private void BuildRequestEntry_StateChanged(BuildRequestEntry entry, BuildReques
         private void RaiseRequestComplete(BuildRequest request, BuildResult result)
         {
             RequestCompleteDelegate requestComplete = OnRequestComplete;
-            if (null != requestComplete)
+            if (requestComplete != null)
             {
                 TraceEngine("RRC: Reporting result for request {0}({1}) (nr {2}).", request.GlobalRequestId, request.ConfigurationId, request.NodeRequestId);
                 requestComplete(request, result);
@@ -718,7 +718,7 @@ private void EvaluateRequestStates()
 
                     // This request is ready to be built
                     case BuildRequestEntryState.Ready:
-                        if (null == firstReadyEntry)
+                        if (firstReadyEntry == null)
                         {
                             firstReadyEntry = currentEntry;
                         }
@@ -747,9 +747,9 @@ private void EvaluateRequestStates()
             }
 
             // Update current engine status and start the next request, if applicable.
-            if (null == activeEntry)
+            if (activeEntry == null)
             {
-                if (null != firstReadyEntry)
+                if (firstReadyEntry != null)
                 {
                     // We are now active because we have an entry which is building.
                     ChangeStatus(BuildRequestEngineStatus.Active);
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Caching/ResultsCache.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Caching/ResultsCache.cs
index cfbcaff2aeb..9ba79433501 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Caching/ResultsCache.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Caching/ResultsCache.cs
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ private static bool CheckResults(BuildResult result, List<string> targets, HashS
             {
                 if (!result.HasResultsForTarget(target) || (result[target].ResultCode == TargetResultCode.Skipped && !skippedResultsAreOK))
                 {
-                    if (null != targetsMissingResults)
+                    if (targetsMissingResults != null)
                     {
                         targetsMissingResults.Add(target);
                         returnValue = false;
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeEndpointInProc.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeEndpointInProc.cs
index 956a7f080f6..a8f9f39b37d 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeEndpointInProc.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeEndpointInProc.cs
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ internal static EndpointPair CreateInProcEndpoints(EndpointMode mode, IBuildComp
         /// <param name="newStatus">The new status of the endpoint link.</param>
         private void RaiseLinkStatusChanged(LinkStatus newStatus)
         {
-            if (null != OnLinkStatusChanged)
+            if (OnLinkStatusChanged != null)
             {
                 LinkStatusChangedDelegate linkStatusDelegate = OnLinkStatusChanged;
                 linkStatusDelegate(this, newStatus);
@@ -326,8 +326,8 @@ private void EnqueuePacket(INodePacket packet)
         {
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowArgumentNull(packet, nameof(packet));
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_mode == EndpointMode.Asynchronous, "EndPoint mode is synchronous, should be asynchronous");
-            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _packetQueue, "packetQueue is null");
-            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _packetAvailable, "packetAvailable is null");
+            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetQueue != null, "packetQueue is null");
+            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetAvailable != null, "packetAvailable is null");
 
             _packetQueue.Enqueue(packet);
             _packetAvailable.Set();
@@ -340,10 +340,10 @@ private void InitializeAsyncPacketThread()
         {
             lock (_asyncDataMonitor)
             {
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null == _packetPump, "packetPump != null");
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null == _packetAvailable, "packetAvailable != null");
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null == _terminatePacketPump, "terminatePacketPump != null");
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null == _packetQueue, "packetQueue != null");
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetPump == null, "packetPump != null");
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetAvailable == null, "packetAvailable != null");
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_terminatePacketPump == null, "terminatePacketPump != null");
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetQueue == null, "packetQueue != null");
 
 #if FEATURE_THREAD_CULTURE
                 _packetPump = new Thread(PacketPumpProc);
@@ -377,10 +377,10 @@ private void TerminateAsyncPacketThread()
         {
             lock (_asyncDataMonitor)
             {
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _packetPump, "packetPump == null");
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _packetAvailable, "packetAvailable == null");
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _terminatePacketPump, "terminatePacketPump == null");
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _packetQueue, "packetQueue == null");
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetPump != null, "packetPump == null");
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetAvailable != null, "packetAvailable == null");
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_terminatePacketPump != null, "terminatePacketPump == null");
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetQueue != null, "packetQueue == null");
 
                 _terminatePacketPump.Set();
                 if (!_packetPump.Join((int)new TimeSpan(0, 0, BuildParameters.EndpointShutdownTimeout).TotalMilliseconds))
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeManager.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeManager.cs
index 2ad71da07f0..79358a223fb 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeManager.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeManager.cs
@@ -156,9 +156,7 @@ public void ShutdownConnectedNodes(bool enableReuse)
             }
 
             _nodesShutdown = true;
-
             _inProcNodeProvider?.ShutdownConnectedNodes(enableReuse);
-
             _outOfProcNodeProvider?.ShutdownConnectedNodes(enableReuse);
         }
 
@@ -316,7 +314,7 @@ private void RemoveNodeFromMapping(int nodeId)
         private int AttemptCreateNode(INodeProvider nodeProvider, NodeConfiguration nodeConfiguration)
         {
             // If no provider was passed in, we obviously can't create a node.
-            if (null == nodeProvider)
+            if (nodeProvider == null)
             {
                 ErrorUtilities.ThrowInternalError("No node provider provided.");
                 return InvalidNodeId;
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderInProc.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderInProc.cs
index 49cca2f7e4d..0081265b99c 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderInProc.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderInProc.cs
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ public void SendData(int nodeId, INodePacket packet)
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowArgumentOutOfRange(nodeId == _inProcNodeId, "node");
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowArgumentNull(packet, nameof(packet));
 
-            if (null == _inProcNode)
+            if (_inProcNode == null)
             {
                 return;
             }
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ public void SendData(int nodeId, INodePacket packet)
         /// <param name="enableReuse">Flag indicating if the nodes should prepare for reuse.</param>
         public void ShutdownConnectedNodes(bool enableReuse)
         {
-            if (null != _inProcNode)
+            if (_inProcNode != null)
             {
                 _inProcNodeEndpoint.SendData(new NodeBuildComplete(enableReuse));
             }
@@ -333,8 +333,8 @@ static internal IBuildComponent CreateComponent(BuildComponentType type)
         /// </summary>
         private bool InstantiateNode(INodePacketFactory factory)
         {
-            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null == _inProcNode, "In Proc node already instantiated.");
-            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null == _inProcNodeEndpoint, "In Proc node endpoint already instantiated.");
+            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_inProcNode == null, "In Proc node already instantiated.");
+            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_inProcNodeEndpoint == null, "In Proc node endpoint already instantiated.");
 
             NodeEndpointInProc.EndpointPair endpoints = NodeEndpointInProc.CreateInProcEndpoints(NodeEndpointInProc.EndpointMode.Synchronous, _componentHost);
 
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProc.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProc.cs
index 5fd62ffed9b..11ea72ba505 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProc.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProc.cs
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ public bool CreateNode(int nodeId, INodePacketFactory factory, NodeConfiguration
             Handshake hostHandshake = new Handshake(CommunicationsUtilities.GetHandshakeOptions(taskHost: false, nodeReuse: ComponentHost.BuildParameters.EnableNodeReuse, lowPriority: ComponentHost.BuildParameters.LowPriority, is64Bit: EnvironmentUtilities.Is64BitProcess));
             NodeContext context = GetNode(null, commandLineArgs, nodeId, factory, hostHandshake, NodeContextTerminated);
 
-            if (null != context)
+            if (context != null)
             {
                 _nodeContexts[nodeId] = context;
 
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProcBase.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProcBase.cs
index cae8c0b3b5e..644d47e931d 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProcBase.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProcBase.cs
@@ -123,13 +123,13 @@ protected void ShutdownAllNodes(bool nodeReuse, NodeContextTerminateDelegate ter
                 // Attempt to connect to the process with the handshake without low priority.
                 Stream nodeStream = TryConnectToProcess(nodeProcess.Id, timeout, NodeProviderOutOfProc.GetHandshake(nodeReuse, false));
 
-                if (null == nodeStream)
+                if (nodeStream == null)
                 {
                     // If we couldn't connect attempt to connect to the process with the handshake including low priority.
                     nodeStream = TryConnectToProcess(nodeProcess.Id, timeout, NodeProviderOutOfProc.GetHandshake(nodeReuse, true));
                 }
 
-                if (null != nodeStream)
+                if (nodeStream != null)
                 {
                     // If we're able to connect to such a process, send a packet requesting its termination
                     CommunicationsUtilities.Trace("Shutting down node with pid = {0}", nodeProcess.Id);
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProcTaskHost.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProcTaskHost.cs
index 418ce50329e..ef746ed27d7 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProcTaskHost.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/NodeProviderOutOfProcTaskHost.cs
@@ -529,7 +529,7 @@ internal bool CreateNode(HandshakeOptions hostContext, INodePacketFactory factor
                                         NodeContextTerminated
                                     );
 
-            if (null != context)
+            if (context != null)
             {
                 _nodeContexts[hostContext] = context;
 
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/TaskHostNodeManager.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/TaskHostNodeManager.cs
index 5ec101d68a5..949c39b4720 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/TaskHostNodeManager.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Communications/TaskHostNodeManager.cs
@@ -73,7 +73,6 @@ public void SendData(int node, INodePacket packet)
         public void ShutdownConnectedNodes(bool enableReuse)
         {
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(!_componentShutdown, "We should never be calling ShutdownNodes after ShutdownComponent has been called");
-
             _outOfProcTaskHostNodeProvider?.ShutdownConnectedNodes(enableReuse);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Logging/LoggingService.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Logging/LoggingService.cs
index 93cbaff924a..f426366b7b1 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Logging/LoggingService.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Logging/LoggingService.cs
@@ -1457,7 +1457,7 @@ private void InitializeLogger(ILogger logger, IEventSource sourceForLogger)
             try
             {
                 INodeLogger nodeLogger = logger as INodeLogger;
-                if (null != nodeLogger)
+                if (nodeLogger != null)
                 {
                     nodeLogger.Initialize(sourceForLogger, _maxCPUCount);
                 }
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/BatchingEngine.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/BatchingEngine.cs
index f0485c1d0eb..3e676950ea5 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/BatchingEngine.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/BatchingEngine.cs
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ ElementLocation elementLocation
 
                         // If we didn't find a bucket that matches this item, create a new one, adding
                         // this item to the bucket.
-                        if (null == matchingBucket)
+                        if (matchingBucket == null)
                         {
                             matchingBucket = new ItemBucket(itemListsToBeBatched.Keys, itemMetadataValues, lookup, buckets.Count);
 
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/IntrinsicTasks/ItemGroupIntrinsicTask.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/IntrinsicTasks/ItemGroupIntrinsicTask.cs
index 15b97e6a83d..31318d664b1 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/IntrinsicTasks/ItemGroupIntrinsicTask.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/IntrinsicTasks/ItemGroupIntrinsicTask.cs
@@ -680,7 +680,7 @@ public string GetEscapedValue(string specifiedItemType, string name)
             public string GetEscapedValueIfPresent(string specifiedItemType, string name)
             {
                 string value = null;
-                if (null == specifiedItemType || specifiedItemType == _itemType)
+                if (specifiedItemType == null || specifiedItemType == _itemType)
                 {
                     // Look in the addTable
                     if (_addTable.TryGetValue(name, out value))
@@ -690,17 +690,17 @@ public string GetEscapedValueIfPresent(string specifiedItemType, string name)
                 }
 
                 // Look in the bucket table
-                if (null != _bucketTable)
+                if (_bucketTable != null)
                 {
                     value = _bucketTable.GetEscapedValueIfPresent(specifiedItemType, name);
-                    if (null != value)
+                    if (value != null)
                     {
                         return value;
                     }
                 }
 
                 // Look in the item definition table
-                if (null != _itemDefinitionTable)
+                if (_itemDefinitionTable != null)
                 {
                     value = _itemDefinitionTable.GetEscapedValueIfPresent(specifiedItemType, name);
                 }
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/RequestBuilder.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/RequestBuilder.cs
index 8551bc19c43..00512fc9c9b 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/RequestBuilder.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/RequestBuilder.cs
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ public void BuildRequest(NodeLoggingContext loggingContext, BuildRequestEntry en
         {
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowArgumentNull(loggingContext, nameof(loggingContext));
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowArgumentNull(entry, nameof(entry));
-            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _componentHost, "Host not set.");
+            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_componentHost != null, "Host not set.");
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_targetBuilder == null, "targetBuilder not null");
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_nodeLoggingContext == null, "nodeLoggingContext not null");
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_requestEntry == null, "requestEntry not null");
@@ -726,7 +726,7 @@ private async Task BuildAndReport()
             }
             catch (InvalidProjectFileException ex)
             {
-                if (null != _projectLoggingContext)
+                if (_projectLoggingContext != null)
                 {
                     _projectLoggingContext.LogInvalidProjectFileError(ex);
                 }
@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ private async Task BuildAndReport()
             {
                 _blockType = BlockType.Unblocked;
 
-                if (null != thrownException)
+                if (thrownException != null)
                 {
                     ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(result == null, "Result already set when exception was thrown.");
                     result = new BuildResult(_requestEntry.Request, thrownException);
@@ -781,7 +781,7 @@ private async Task BuildAndReport()
         /// </summary>
         private void ReportResultAndCleanUp(BuildResult result)
         {
-            if (null != _projectLoggingContext)
+            if (_projectLoggingContext != null)
             {
                 try
                 {
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TargetBuilder.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TargetBuilder.cs
index d105588c94d..dc1132431ee 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TargetBuilder.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TargetBuilder.cs
@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ private async Task ProcessTargetStack(ITaskBuilder taskBuilder)
                             }
 
                             // And if we have dependencies to run, push them now.
-                            if (null != dependencies)
+                            if (dependencies != null)
                             {
                                 await PushTargets(dependencies, currentTargetEntry, currentTargetEntry.Lookup, false, false, TargetBuiltReason.DependsOn);
                             }
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TargetEntry.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TargetEntry.cs
index 6e7c3e077aa..98acfa7cee3 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TargetEntry.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TargetEntry.cs
@@ -546,11 +546,8 @@ internal async Task ExecuteTarget(ITaskBuilder taskBuilder, BuildRequestEntry re
                         // Make sure the Invalid Project error gets logged *before* TargetFinished.  Otherwise,
                         // the log is confusing.
                         targetLoggingContext.LogInvalidProjectFileError(e);
-
                         entryForInference?.LeaveScope();
-
                         entryForExecution?.LeaveScope();
-
                         aggregateResult = aggregateResult.AggregateResult(new WorkUnitResult(WorkUnitResultCode.Failed, WorkUnitActionCode.Stop, null));
                     }
                     finally
@@ -718,7 +715,7 @@ internal List<TargetSpecification> GetErrorTargets(ProjectLoggingContext project
 
             // If this target never executed (for instance, because one of its dependencies errored) then we need to
             // create a result for this target to report when it gets to the Completed state.
-            if (null == _targetResult)
+            if (_targetResult == null)
             {
                 _targetResult = new TargetResult(Array.Empty<TaskItem>(), new WorkUnitResult(WorkUnitResultCode.Failed, WorkUnitActionCode.Stop, null));
             }
@@ -747,7 +744,7 @@ internal TargetResult GatherResults()
         /// <param name="lookup">The lookup to enter with.</param>
         internal void EnterLegacyCallTargetScope(Lookup lookup)
         {
-            if (null == _legacyCallTargetScopes)
+            if (_legacyCallTargetScopes == null)
             {
                 _legacyCallTargetScopes = new Stack<Lookup.Scope>();
             }
@@ -783,7 +780,7 @@ internal void MarkForStop()
         /// </summary>
         internal void LeaveLegacyCallTargetScopes()
         {
-            if (null != _legacyCallTargetScopes)
+            if (_legacyCallTargetScopes != null)
             {
                 while (_legacyCallTargetScopes.Count != 0)
                 {
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TaskBuilder.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TaskBuilder.cs
index 9d3bcc3e05f..d3431b4bf8c 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TaskBuilder.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/RequestBuilder/TaskBuilder.cs
@@ -1179,7 +1179,7 @@ ItemBucket bucket
         {
             string taskParameterAttribute = _taskNode.GetParameter(taskParameterName);
 
-            if (null != taskParameterAttribute)
+            if (taskParameterAttribute != null)
             {
                 ProjectTaskOutputItemInstance taskItemInstance = taskOutputSpecification as ProjectTaskOutputItemInstance;
                 if (taskItemInstance != null)
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Scheduler/Scheduler.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Scheduler/Scheduler.cs
index b357b6149ce..4dc54d08360 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Scheduler/Scheduler.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Components/Scheduler/Scheduler.cs
@@ -1552,7 +1552,7 @@ private void HandleRequestBlockedByNewRequests(SchedulableRequest parentRequest,
                 // directly here.  We COULD simply report these as blocking the parent request and let the scheduler pick them up later when the parent
                 // comes back up as schedulable, but we prefer to send the results back immediately so this request can (potentially) continue uninterrupted.
                 ScheduleResponse response = TrySatisfyRequestFromCache(nodeForResults, request, skippedResultsDoNotCauseCacheMiss: _componentHost.BuildParameters.SkippedResultsDoNotCauseCacheMiss());
-                if (null != response)
+                if (response != null)
                 {
                     TraceScheduler("Request {0} (node request {1}) satisfied from the cache.", request.GlobalRequestId, request.NodeRequestId);
 
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Node/InProcNode.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Node/InProcNode.cs
index 580187c97f4..0a5db6abbb2 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Node/InProcNode.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Node/InProcNode.cs
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ private NodeEngineShutdownReason HandleShutdown(out Exception exception)
             try
             {
                 // Clean up the engine
-                if (null != _buildRequestEngine && _buildRequestEngine.Status != BuildRequestEngineStatus.Uninitialized)
+                if (_buildRequestEngine != null && _buildRequestEngine.Status != BuildRequestEngineStatus.Uninitialized)
                 {
                     _buildRequestEngine.CleanupForBuild();
                 }
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ private NodeEngineShutdownReason HandleShutdown(out Exception exception)
 
             exception = _shutdownException;
 
-            if (null != _loggingContext)
+            if (_loggingContext != null)
             {
                 _loggingContext.LoggingService.OnLoggingThreadException -= OnLoggingThreadException;
                 _loggingContext = null;
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Node/OutOfProcNode.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Node/OutOfProcNode.cs
index 4d170a3853c..0ae529953d0 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Node/OutOfProcNode.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Node/OutOfProcNode.cs
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ private NodeEngineShutdownReason HandleShutdown(out Exception exception)
             CommunicationsUtilities.Trace("Shutting down with reason: {0}, and exception: {1}.", _shutdownReason, _shutdownException);
 
             // Clean up the engine
-            if (null != _buildRequestEngine && _buildRequestEngine.Status != BuildRequestEngineStatus.Uninitialized)
+            if (_buildRequestEngine != null && _buildRequestEngine.Status != BuildRequestEngineStatus.Uninitialized)
             {
                 _buildRequestEngine.CleanupForBuild();
 
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@ private NodeEngineShutdownReason HandleShutdown(out Exception exception)
             try
             {
                 // Shut down logging, which will cause all queued logging messages to be sent.
-                if (null != _loggingContext && null != _loggingService)
+                if (_loggingContext != null && _loggingService != null)
                 {
                     _loggingContext.LogBuildFinished(true);
                     ((IBuildComponent)_loggingService).ShutdownComponent();
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ private NodeEngineShutdownReason HandleShutdown(out Exception exception)
             finally
             {
                 // Shut down logging, which will cause all queued logging messages to be sent.
-                if (null != _loggingContext && null != _loggingService)
+                if (_loggingContext != null && _loggingService != null)
                 {
                     _loggingContext.LoggingService.OnLoggingThreadException -= OnLoggingThreadException;
                     _loggingContext = null;
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/Shared/BuildResult.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/Shared/BuildResult.cs
index ec0d6b998c9..b5bf9d3706d 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/Shared/BuildResult.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/Shared/BuildResult.cs
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ public BuildResultCode OverallResult
         {
             get
             {
-                if (null != _requestException || _circularDependency || !_baseOverallResult)
+                if (_requestException != null || _circularDependency || !_baseOverallResult)
                 {
                     return BuildResultCode.Failure;
                 }
diff --git a/src/Build/BackEnd/TaskExecutionHost/TaskExecutionHost.cs b/src/Build/BackEnd/TaskExecutionHost/TaskExecutionHost.cs
index 27ad473350a..2a98b2fdf32 100644
--- a/src/Build/BackEnd/TaskExecutionHost/TaskExecutionHost.cs
+++ b/src/Build/BackEnd/TaskExecutionHost/TaskExecutionHost.cs
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ bool ITaskExecutionHost.InitializeForBatch(TaskLoggingContext loggingContext, It
             // here. Instead, NDP will try to Load (not LoadFrom!) the task assembly into our AppDomain, and since
             // we originally used LoadFrom, it will fail miserably not knowing where to find it.
             // We need to temporarily subscribe to the AppDomain.AssemblyResolve event to fix it.
-            if (null == _resolver)
+            if (_resolver == null)
             {
                 _resolver = new TaskEngineAssemblyResolver();
                 _resolver.Initialize(_taskFactoryWrapper.TaskFactoryLoadedType.Assembly.AssemblyFile);
@@ -865,19 +865,19 @@ private TaskFactoryWrapper FindTaskInRegistry(IDictionary<string, string> taskId
             if (!_intrinsicTasks.TryGetValue(_taskName, out TaskFactoryWrapper returnClass))
             {
                 returnClass = _projectInstance.TaskRegistry.GetRegisteredTask(_taskName, null, taskIdentityParameters, true /* exact match */, _targetLoggingContext, _taskLocation);
-                if (null == returnClass)
+                if (returnClass == null)
                 {
                     returnClass = _projectInstance.TaskRegistry.GetRegisteredTask(_taskName, null, taskIdentityParameters, false /* fuzzy match */, _targetLoggingContext, _taskLocation);
 
-                    if (null == returnClass)
+                    if (returnClass == null)
                     {
                         returnClass = _projectInstance.TaskRegistry.GetRegisteredTask(_taskName, null, null, true /* exact match */, _targetLoggingContext, _taskLocation);
 
-                        if (null == returnClass)
+                        if (returnClass == null)
                         {
                             returnClass = _projectInstance.TaskRegistry.GetRegisteredTask(_taskName, null, null, false /* fuzzy match */, _targetLoggingContext, _taskLocation);
 
-                            if (null == returnClass)
+                            if (returnClass == null)
                             {
                                 _targetLoggingContext.LogError
                                     (
diff --git a/src/Build/Collections/CopyOnWritePropertyDictionary.cs b/src/Build/Collections/CopyOnWritePropertyDictionary.cs
index 68f6cf3eaef..67ab4344b9a 100644
--- a/src/Build/Collections/CopyOnWritePropertyDictionary.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Collections/CopyOnWritePropertyDictionary.cs
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
         /// <returns>True if they are equivalent, false otherwise.</returns>
         public bool Equals(CopyOnWritePropertyDictionary<T> other)
         {
-            if (null == other)
+            if (other == null)
             {
                 return false;
             }
diff --git a/src/Build/Collections/PropertyDictionary.cs b/src/Build/Collections/PropertyDictionary.cs
index f9d871cc8f9..e3c17b24fae 100644
--- a/src/Build/Collections/PropertyDictionary.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Collections/PropertyDictionary.cs
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
         /// <returns>True if they are equivalent, false otherwise.</returns>
         public bool Equals(PropertyDictionary<T> other)
         {
-            if (null == other)
+            if (other == null)
             {
                 return false;
             }
diff --git a/src/Build/Definition/ProjectCollection.cs b/src/Build/Definition/ProjectCollection.cs
index 4b9c602b48b..8869625cae4 100644
--- a/src/Build/Definition/ProjectCollection.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Definition/ProjectCollection.cs
@@ -875,11 +875,11 @@ internal PropertyDictionary<ProjectPropertyInstance> EnvironmentProperties
                     // This is only done once, when the project collection is created. Any subsequent
                     // environment changes will be ignored. Child nodes will be passed this set
                     // of properties in their build parameters.
-                    if (null == _environmentProperties)
+                    if (_environmentProperties == null)
                     {
                         using (_locker.EnterWriteLock())
                         {
-                            if (null == _environmentProperties)
+                            if (_environmentProperties == null)
                             {
                                 _environmentProperties = Utilities.GetEnvironmentProperties();
                             }
diff --git a/src/Build/Definition/ProjectItem.cs b/src/Build/Definition/ProjectItem.cs
index dc2d645a580..40b7b40eed9 100644
--- a/src/Build/Definition/ProjectItem.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Definition/ProjectItem.cs
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ internal ICollection<ProjectMetadata> MetadataCollection
                 }
 
                 // Finally any direct metadata win.
-                if (null != _directMetadata)
+                if (_directMetadata != null)
                 {
                     foreach (ProjectMetadata metadatum in _directMetadata)
                     {
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ public bool HasMetadata(string name)
             }
 
             ProjectMetadata metadatum = GetItemDefinitionMetadata(name);
-            if (null != metadatum)
+            if (metadatum != null)
             {
                 return true;
             }
@@ -488,13 +488,13 @@ string IItem.GetMetadataValueEscaped(string name)
             {
                 ProjectMetadata metadatum = GetItemDefinitionMetadata(name);
 
-                if (null != metadatum && Expander<ProjectProperty, ProjectItem>.ExpressionMayContainExpandableExpressions(metadatum.EvaluatedValueEscaped))
+                if (metadatum != null && Expander<ProjectProperty, ProjectItem>.ExpressionMayContainExpandableExpressions(metadatum.EvaluatedValueEscaped))
                 {
                     Expander<ProjectProperty, ProjectItem> expander = new Expander<ProjectProperty, ProjectItem>(null, null, new BuiltInMetadataTable(this), FileSystems.Default);
 
                     value = expander.ExpandIntoStringLeaveEscaped(metadatum.EvaluatedValueEscaped, ExpanderOptions.ExpandBuiltInMetadata, metadatum.Location);
                 }
-                else if (null != metadatum)
+                else if (metadatum != null)
                 {
                     return metadatum.EvaluatedValueEscaped;
                 }
diff --git a/src/Build/Definition/ProjectProperty.cs b/src/Build/Definition/ProjectProperty.cs
index 86006ce707a..a8e6b32e4a3 100644
--- a/src/Build/Definition/ProjectProperty.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Definition/ProjectProperty.cs
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ bool IEquatable<ProjectProperty>.Equals(ProjectProperty other)
                 return true;
             }
 
-            if (null == other)
+            if (other == null)
             {
                 return false;
             }
diff --git a/src/Build/Definition/Toolset.cs b/src/Build/Definition/Toolset.cs
index d4319af557f..fc08972debb 100644
--- a/src/Build/Definition/Toolset.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Definition/Toolset.cs
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ public Toolset(string toolsVersion, string toolsPath, IDictionary<string, string
             : this(toolsVersion, toolsPath, null, projectCollection.EnvironmentProperties, projectCollection.GlobalPropertiesCollection, subToolsets, msbuildOverrideTasksPath, defaultOverrideToolsVersion: null)
         {
             _properties = new PropertyDictionary<ProjectPropertyInstance>();
-            if (null != buildProperties)
+            if (buildProperties != null)
             {
                 foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> keyValuePair in buildProperties)
                 {
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ internal static string[] GetTaskFiles(DirectoryGetFiles getFiles, ILoggingServic
 
             try
             {
-                if (null != getFiles)
+                if (getFiles != null)
                 {
                     defaultTasksFiles = getFiles(searchPath, taskPattern);
                 }
@@ -997,7 +997,7 @@ private void RegisterOverrideTasks(ILoggingService loggingServices, BuildEventCo
                         {
                             if (Path.IsPathRooted(_overrideTasksPath))
                             {
-                                if (null != _directoryExists)
+                                if (_directoryExists != null)
                                 {
                                     overrideDirectoryExists = _directoryExists(_overrideTasksPath);
                                 }
@@ -1063,7 +1063,7 @@ private void LoadAndRegisterFromTasksFile(string[] defaultTaskFiles, ILoggingSer
                     {
                         ProjectUsingTaskElement usingTask = elementXml as ProjectUsingTaskElement;
 
-                        if (null == usingTask)
+                        if (usingTask == null)
                         {
                             ProjectErrorUtilities.ThrowInvalidProject
                                 (
diff --git a/src/Build/Definition/ToolsetConfigurationReader.cs b/src/Build/Definition/ToolsetConfigurationReader.cs
index 8f7e7744551..9023f575257 100644
--- a/src/Build/Definition/ToolsetConfigurationReader.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Definition/ToolsetConfigurationReader.cs
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ private ToolsetConfigurationSection ConfigurationSection
         {
             get
             {
-                if (null == _configurationSection && !_configurationReadAttempted)
+                if (_configurationSection == null && !_configurationReadAttempted)
                 {
                     try
                     {
diff --git a/src/Build/Evaluation/Conditionals/Parser.cs b/src/Build/Evaluation/Conditionals/Parser.cs
index 3255b2b6d8a..ac231b18964 100644
--- a/src/Build/Evaluation/Conditionals/Parser.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Evaluation/Conditionals/Parser.cs
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ private GenericExpressionNode ExprPrime(string expression, GenericExpressionNode
         private GenericExpressionNode BooleanTerm(string expression)
         {
             GenericExpressionNode node = RelationalExpr(expression);
-            if (null == node)
+            if (node == null)
             {
                 errorPosition = _lexer.GetErrorPosition();
                 ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(false, _elementLocation, "UnexpectedTokenInCondition", expression, _lexer.IsNextString(), errorPosition);
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ private GenericExpressionNode BooleanTermPrime(string expression, GenericExpress
             else if (Same(expression, Token.TokenType.And))
             {
                 GenericExpressionNode rhs = RelationalExpr(expression);
-                if (null == rhs)
+                if (rhs == null)
                 {
                     errorPosition = _lexer.GetErrorPosition();
                     ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(false, _elementLocation, "UnexpectedTokenInCondition", expression, _lexer.IsNextString(), errorPosition);
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ private GenericExpressionNode RelationalExpr(string expression)
         {
             {
                 GenericExpressionNode lhs = Factor(expression);
-                if (null == lhs)
+                if (lhs == null)
                 {
                     errorPosition = _lexer.GetErrorPosition();
                     ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(false, _elementLocation, "UnexpectedTokenInCondition", expression, _lexer.IsNextString(), errorPosition);
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ private bool Same(string expression, Token.TokenType token)
                 if (!_lexer.Advance())
                 {
                     errorPosition = _lexer.GetErrorPosition();
-                    if (null != _lexer.UnexpectedlyFound)
+                    if (_lexer.UnexpectedlyFound != null)
                     {
                         ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(false, _elementLocation, _lexer.GetErrorResource(), expression, errorPosition, _lexer.UnexpectedlyFound);
                     }
diff --git a/src/Build/Evaluation/Expander.cs b/src/Build/Evaluation/Expander.cs
index cf6f39fac6c..4322d3fcaa2 100644
--- a/src/Build/Evaluation/Expander.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Evaluation/Expander.cs
@@ -1559,7 +1559,7 @@ private static string ExpandRegistryValue(string registryExpression, IElementLoc
 
                         object valueFromRegistry = Registry.GetValue(registryKeyName, valueName, null /* default if key or value name is not found */);
 
-                        if (null != valueFromRegistry)
+                        if (valueFromRegistry != null)
                         {
                             // Convert the result to a string that is reasonable for MSBuild
                             result = ConvertToString(valueFromRegistry);
diff --git a/src/Build/Instance/ProjectInstance.cs b/src/Build/Instance/ProjectInstance.cs
index 8c268c88cc5..f6de1df07f3 100644
--- a/src/Build/Instance/ProjectInstance.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Instance/ProjectInstance.cs
@@ -2215,7 +2215,7 @@ internal bool Build(string[] targets, IEnumerable<ILogger> loggers, IEnumerable<
         {
             VerifyThrowNotImmutable();
 
-            if (null == targets)
+            if (targets == null)
             {
                 targets = Array.Empty<string>();
             }
diff --git a/src/Build/Instance/ProjectItemInstance.cs b/src/Build/Instance/ProjectItemInstance.cs
index 247b999052e..716439edbf7 100644
--- a/src/Build/Instance/ProjectItemInstance.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Instance/ProjectItemInstance.cs
@@ -1253,14 +1253,14 @@ public string GetMetadataEscaped(string metadataName)
 
                 metadatum = GetItemDefinitionMetadata(metadataName);
 
-                if (null != metadatum && Expander<ProjectProperty, ProjectItem>.ExpressionMayContainExpandableExpressions(metadatum.EvaluatedValueEscaped))
+                if (metadatum != null && Expander<ProjectProperty, ProjectItem>.ExpressionMayContainExpandableExpressions(metadatum.EvaluatedValueEscaped))
                 {
                     Expander<ProjectPropertyInstance, ProjectItemInstance> expander = new Expander<ProjectPropertyInstance, ProjectItemInstance>(null, null, new BuiltInMetadataTable(null, this), FileSystems.Default);
 
                     // We don't have a location to use, but this is very unlikely to error
                     return expander.ExpandIntoStringLeaveEscaped(metadatum.EvaluatedValueEscaped, ExpanderOptions.ExpandBuiltInMetadata, ElementLocation.EmptyLocation);
                 }
-                else if (null != metadatum)
+                else if (metadatum != null)
                 {
                     return metadatum.EvaluatedValueEscaped;
                 }
diff --git a/src/Build/Instance/TaskRegistry.cs b/src/Build/Instance/TaskRegistry.cs
index 0886986ce08..ef40362e4eb 100644
--- a/src/Build/Instance/TaskRegistry.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Instance/TaskRegistry.cs
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ internal IDictionary<RegisteredTaskIdentity, List<RegisteredTaskRecord>> TaskReg
         {
             get
             {
-                if (null == _taskRegistrations)
+                if (_taskRegistrations == null)
                 {
                     _taskRegistrations = CreateRegisteredTaskDictionary();
                 }
diff --git a/src/Build/Logging/ParallelLogger/ParallelConsoleLogger.cs b/src/Build/Logging/ParallelLogger/ParallelConsoleLogger.cs
index fd92582d161..755391e0e38 100644
--- a/src/Build/Logging/ParallelLogger/ParallelConsoleLogger.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Logging/ParallelLogger/ParallelConsoleLogger.cs
@@ -530,12 +530,12 @@ public override void ProjectStartedHandler(object sender, ProjectStartedEventArg
                 {
                     DisplayDeferredProjectStartedEvent(e.BuildEventContext);
                 }
-                if (null != e.Properties)
+                if (e.Properties != null)
                 {
                     WriteProperties(e, e.Properties);
                 }
 
-                if (null != e.Items)
+                if (e.Items != null)
                 {
                     WriteItems(e, e.Items);
                 }
diff --git a/src/Build/Logging/SerialConsoleLogger.cs b/src/Build/Logging/SerialConsoleLogger.cs
index 31a0cd14deb..1f38a87c5e8 100644
--- a/src/Build/Logging/SerialConsoleLogger.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Logging/SerialConsoleLogger.cs
@@ -265,13 +265,13 @@ public override void ProjectStartedHandler(object sender, ProjectStartedEventArg
 
             if (Verbosity == LoggerVerbosity.Diagnostic && showItemAndPropertyList)
             {
-                if (null != e.Properties)
+                if (e.Properties != null)
                 {
                     var propertyList = ExtractPropertyList(e.Properties);
                     WriteProperties(propertyList);
                 }
 
-                if (null != e.Items)
+                if (e.Items != null)
                 {
                     SortedList itemList = ExtractItemList(e.Items);
                     WriteItems(itemList);
diff --git a/src/Build/Utilities/RegistryKeyWrapper.cs b/src/Build/Utilities/RegistryKeyWrapper.cs
index 6aefdb6e990..5db9a22e37c 100644
--- a/src/Build/Utilities/RegistryKeyWrapper.cs
+++ b/src/Build/Utilities/RegistryKeyWrapper.cs
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ public virtual RegistryKeyWrapper OpenSubKey(string name)
         /// <returns></returns>
         public virtual bool Exists()
         {
-            return null != WrappedKey;
+            return WrappedKey != null;
         }
 
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Conversion/AdditionalOptionsParser.cs b/src/Deprecated/Conversion/AdditionalOptionsParser.cs
index 6edd700bbd5..1695918ddb2 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Conversion/AdditionalOptionsParser.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Conversion/AdditionalOptionsParser.cs
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ ProjectPropertyGroupElement configPropertyGroup
         )
         {
             // Trivial case
-            if (null == additionalOptionsValue)
+            if (additionalOptionsValue == null)
             {
                 return;
             }
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ private bool ExtractSwitchInfo(CompSwitchInfo compSwitchInfo, string compSwitch)
                 }
             }
             // No no... we arent dealing with the correct switchInfo
-            if (null == matchedID)
+            if (matchedID == null)
             {
                 return false;
             }
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ private bool ExtractSwitchInfo(CompSwitchInfo compSwitchInfo, string compSwitch)
                             switchVal = false;
                         }
                     }
-                    if (null != switchVal)
+                    if (switchVal != null)
                     {
                         compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue = switchVal;
                     }
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ private bool ExtractSwitchInfo(CompSwitchInfo compSwitchInfo, string compSwitch)
                     {
                         switchVal = compSwitch.Substring(matchedID.Length);
                     }
-                    if (null != switchVal)
+                    if (switchVal != null)
                     {
                         compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue = switchVal;
                     }
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ private bool ExtractSwitchInfo(CompSwitchInfo compSwitchInfo, string compSwitch)
 
                 case SwitchValueType.SVT_MultiString:
                     Debug.Assert(
-                        null != compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue,
+                        compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue != null,
                         "Non null switch value expected for a multistring switch: " + matchedID
                     );
 
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ private bool ExtractSwitchInfo(CompSwitchInfo compSwitchInfo, string compSwitch)
                     {
                         switchVal = compSwitch.Substring(matchedID.Length);
                     }
-                    if (null != switchVal)
+                    if (switchVal != null)
                     {
                         ((StringBuilder)(compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue)).Append(switchVal);
                         ((StringBuilder)(compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue)).Append(";");
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ private void PopulatePropertyGroup(ProjectPropertyGroupElement configPropertyGro
                 switch (compSwitchInfo.SwitchValueType)
                 {
                     case SwitchValueType.SVT_Boolean:
-                        if (null != compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue)
+                        if (compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue != null)
                         {
                             configPropertyGroup.AddProperty(
                                 propertyName,
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ private void PopulatePropertyGroup(ProjectPropertyGroupElement configPropertyGro
                     break;
 
                     case SwitchValueType.SVT_String:
-                        if (null != compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue)
+                        if (compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue != null)
                         {
                             configPropertyGroup.AddProperty(
                                 propertyName,
@@ -418,7 +418,7 @@ private void PopulatePropertyGroup(ProjectPropertyGroupElement configPropertyGro
                     break;
 
                     case SwitchValueType.SVT_MultiString:
-                        Debug.Assert(null != compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue, "Expected non null value for multistring switch");
+                        Debug.Assert(compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue != null, "Expected non null value for multistring switch");
                         if (0 != ((StringBuilder)(compSwitchInfo.SwitchValue)).Length)
                         {
                             configPropertyGroup.AddProperty(
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Conditionals/Parser.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Conditionals/Parser.cs
index f42eecf7285..685b1e08d1c 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Conditionals/Parser.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Conditionals/Parser.cs
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ private GenericExpressionNode ExprPrime(string expression, GenericExpressionNode
         private GenericExpressionNode BooleanTerm(string expression)
         {
             GenericExpressionNode node = RelationalExpr(expression);
-            if (null == node)
+            if (node == null)
             {
                 errorPosition = lexer.GetErrorPosition();
                 ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(false, this.conditionAttribute, "UnexpectedTokenInCondition", expression, lexer.IsNextString(), errorPosition);
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ private GenericExpressionNode BooleanTermPrime(string expression, GenericExpress
             else if (Same(expression, Token.TokenType.And))
             {
                 GenericExpressionNode rhs = RelationalExpr(expression);
-                if (null == rhs)
+                if (rhs == null)
                 {
                     errorPosition = lexer.GetErrorPosition();
                     ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(false, this.conditionAttribute, "UnexpectedTokenInCondition", expression, lexer.IsNextString(), errorPosition);
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ private GenericExpressionNode RelationalExpr(string expression)
         {
          {
                 GenericExpressionNode lhs = Factor(expression);
-                if (null == lhs)
+                if (lhs == null)
                 {
                     errorPosition = lexer.GetErrorPosition();
                     ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(false, this.conditionAttribute, "UnexpectedTokenInCondition", expression, lexer.IsNextString(), errorPosition);
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ private bool Same(string expression, Token.TokenType token)
                 if (!lexer.Advance())
                 {
                     errorPosition = lexer.GetErrorPosition();
-                    if (null != lexer.UnexpectedlyFound)
+                    if (lexer.UnexpectedlyFound != null)
                     {
                         ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(false, this.conditionAttribute, lexer.GetErrorResource(), expression, errorPosition, lexer.UnexpectedlyFound);
                     }
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/BatchingEngine.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/BatchingEngine.cs
index f7665e917bc..e904d7978df 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/BatchingEngine.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/BatchingEngine.cs
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ Dictionary<string, MetadataReference> consumedMetadataReferences
 
                         // If we didn't find a bucket that matches this item, create a new one, adding
                         // this item to the bucket.
-                        if (null == matchingBucket)
+                        if (matchingBucket == null)
                         {
                             matchingBucket = new ItemBucket(itemListsToBeBatched.Keys, itemMetadataValues, lookup, buckets.Count);
 
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/BuildResult.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/BuildResult.cs
index a76383ad0e9..2e09508f9b9 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/BuildResult.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/BuildResult.cs
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ internal int TaskTime
         internal void ConvertToTaskItems()
         {
             // If outputsByTarget was null then we dont have to re-create anything as nothing was passed over
-            if (null != outputsByTarget)
+            if (outputsByTarget != null)
             {
                 string[] keys = new string[outputsByTarget.Count];
                 outputsByTarget.Keys.CopyTo(keys, 0);
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Engine.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Engine.cs
index 17c9eebaee8..7b90112b51b 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Engine.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Engine.cs
@@ -2080,7 +2080,7 @@ private void StartRootProjectBuild(BuildRequest buildRequest, Project project)
                 // There should be no projects in the ProjectManager with the same full path, global properties and tools version
                 // as any of the loaded projects.  If there are, something went badly awry, because
                 // we were supposed to have deleted them after the last build.
-                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null == this.cacheOfBuildingProjects.GetProject(loadedProject.FullFileName, loadedProject.GlobalProperties, loadedProject.ToolsVersion),
+                ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(this.cacheOfBuildingProjects.GetProject(loadedProject.FullFileName, loadedProject.GlobalProperties, loadedProject.ToolsVersion) == null,
                     "Project shouldn't be in ProjectManager already.");
 
                 // Add the loaded project to the list of projects being built, just
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Expander.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Expander.cs
index 1b383e90847..0b277a679bf 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Expander.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Expander.cs
@@ -906,7 +906,7 @@ private string ExpandRegistryValue(string registryExpression, XmlNode node)
                     object valueFromRegistry = Registry.GetValue(registryKeyName,
                                                                  valueName,
                                                                  null /* default if key or value name is not found */);
-                    if (null != valueFromRegistry)
+                    if (valueFromRegistry != null)
                     {
                         // Convert the result to a string that is reasonable for MSBuild
                         result = ConvertToString(valueFromRegistry);
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Project.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Project.cs
index 0fd05ada9a1..da38c4e5831 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Project.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/Project.cs
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ string toolsVersion
                 // If the toolsVersion is null, we will use the value specified in
                 // the Project element's ToolsVersion attribute, or else the default if that
                 // attribute is not present.
-                if (null != toolsVersion)
+                if (toolsVersion != null)
                 {
                     this.ToolsVersion = toolsVersion;
                 }
@@ -3973,7 +3973,7 @@ bool importedProject
                         case XMakeElements.projectExtensions:
                             if (!importedProject)
                             {
-                                ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(null == this.projectExtensionsNode, childElement,
+                                ProjectErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidProject(this.projectExtensionsNode == null, childElement,
                                     "DuplicateProjectExtensions");
                                 this.projectExtensionsNode = childElement;
 
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/RegistryKeyWrapper.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/RegistryKeyWrapper.cs
index 1f2265708cb..e6e4d42be8e 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/RegistryKeyWrapper.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/RegistryKeyWrapper.cs
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ public virtual RegistryKeyWrapper OpenSubKey(string name)
         /// <returns></returns>
         public virtual bool Exists()
         {
-            return null != WrappedKey;
+            return WrappedKey != null;
         }
 
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/TaskEngine.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/TaskEngine.cs
index 87c4b14d9b6..50618e45403 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/TaskEngine.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/TaskEngine.cs
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ private AppDomain PrepareAppDomain()
             // here. Instead, NDP will try to Load (not LoadFrom!) the task assembly into our AppDomain, and since
             // we originally used LoadFrom, it will fail miserably not knowing where to find it.
             // We need to temporarily subscribe to the AppDomain.AssemblyResolve event to fix it.
-            if (null == resolver)
+            if (resolver == null)
             {
                 resolver = new TaskEngineAssemblyResolver();
                 resolver.Initialize(TaskClass.Assembly.AssemblyFile);
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/ToolsetConfigurationReader.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/ToolsetConfigurationReader.cs
index c9408a24eff..4b129cf256b 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/ToolsetConfigurationReader.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Engine/ToolsetConfigurationReader.cs
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ private ToolsetConfigurationSection ConfigurationSection
         {
             get
             {
-                if (null == configurationSection && !configurationReadAttempted)
+                if (configurationSection == null && !configurationReadAttempted)
                 {
                     try
                     {
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ private ToolsetConfigurationSection ConfigurationSection
                         // If section definition is not present and section is also not present, this value is null
                         // If the section definition is not present and section is present, then this value is null
 
-                        if (null != configuration)
+                        if (configuration != null)
                         {
                             configurationSection = configuration.GetSection("msbuildToolsets") as ToolsetConfigurationSection;
                         }
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/BaseConsoleLogger.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/BaseConsoleLogger.cs
index da82e751c59..f7fe92fa404 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/BaseConsoleLogger.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/BaseConsoleLogger.cs
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ public int Compare(Object a, Object b)
         internal string IndentString(string s, int indent)
         {
             // It's possible the event has a null message
-            if (null == s)
+            if (s == null)
             {
                 s = String.Empty;
             }
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/ParallelLogger/ParallelConsoleLogger.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/ParallelLogger/ParallelConsoleLogger.cs
index 254a37d2b70..4aa273db8c9 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/ParallelLogger/ParallelConsoleLogger.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/ParallelLogger/ParallelConsoleLogger.cs
@@ -499,12 +499,12 @@ public override void ProjectStartedHandler(object sender, ProjectStartedEventArg
                 {
                     DisplayDeferredProjectStartedEvent(e.BuildEventContext);
                 }
-                if (null != e.Properties)
+                if (e.Properties != null)
                 {
                     WriteProperties(e, e.Properties);          
                 }
 
-                if (null != e.Items)
+                if (e.Items != null)
                 {
                     WriteItems(e, e.Items);
                 }
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/SerialConsoleLogger.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/SerialConsoleLogger.cs
index e31ed6ddc4b..751e4b0717b 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/SerialConsoleLogger.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Logging/SerialConsoleLogger.cs
@@ -267,13 +267,13 @@ public override void ProjectStartedHandler(object sender, ProjectStartedEventArg
 
             if (Verbosity == LoggerVerbosity.Diagnostic && showItemAndPropertyList)
             {
-                if (null != e.Properties)
+                if (e.Properties != null)
                 {
                     ArrayList propertyList = ExtractPropertyList(e.Properties);
                     WriteProperties(propertyList);
                 }
 
-                if (null != e.Items)
+                if (e.Items != null)
                 {
                     SortedList itemList = ExtractItemList(e.Items);
                     WriteItems(itemList);
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Shared/EventArgsFormatting.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Shared/EventArgsFormatting.cs
index 98ef3cf76bb..9a9623e2303 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Shared/EventArgsFormatting.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Shared/EventArgsFormatting.cs
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ int threadId
             }
 
             // A null message is allowed and is to be treated as a blank line.
-            if (null == message)
+            if (message == null)
             {
                 message = String.Empty;
             }
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Shared/FrameworkLocationHelper.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Shared/FrameworkLocationHelper.cs
index fb7f123ac0f..156bc7a8437 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Shared/FrameworkLocationHelper.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Shared/FrameworkLocationHelper.cs
@@ -429,14 +429,14 @@ string registryKeyName
                 .LocalMachine
                 .OpenSubKey(registryBaseKeyName);
 
-            if (null == baseKey)
+            if (baseKey == null)
             {
                 return null;
             }
 
             object keyValue = baseKey.GetValue(registryKeyName);
 
-            if (null == keyValue)
+            if (keyValue == null)
             {
                 return null;
             }
diff --git a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Solution/VCWrapperProject.cs b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Solution/VCWrapperProject.cs
index d3f285613c1..fe252f31141 100644
--- a/src/Deprecated/Engine/Solution/VCWrapperProject.cs
+++ b/src/Deprecated/Engine/Solution/VCWrapperProject.cs
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ private static string GenerateFullPathToTool(RegistryView registryView)
                 string location = TryLocationFromRegistry(baseKey, vs9RegKey, vs9InstallDirValueName,
                     vs9RelativePathToVCBuildLayouts, vs9RelativePathToVCBuildBatch);
 
-                if (null != location)
+                if (location != null)
                 {
                     return location;
                 }
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ private static string GenerateFullPathToTool(RegistryView registryView)
                 location = TryLocationFromRegistry(baseKey, vc9RegKey, vc9InstallDirValueName,
                     vc9RelativePathToVCBuildLayouts, vc9RelativePathToVCBuildBatch);
 
-                if (null != location)
+                if (location != null)
                 {
                     return location;
                 }
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ private static string TryLocationFromRegistry(RegistryKey root, string subKeyNam
 
                         // if not found in layouts location, try the alternate dir if any,
                         // which contains vcbuild for batch installs
-                        if (null != relativePathFromValueOnBatch)
+                        if (relativePathFromValueOnBatch != null)
                         {
                             vcBuildPath = Path.Combine(rootDir, relativePathFromValueOnBatch);
                             if (File.Exists(vcBuildPath))
diff --git a/src/Framework/XamlTypes/Rule.cs b/src/Framework/XamlTypes/Rule.cs
index caac61eec3a..5893a27acf7 100644
--- a/src/Framework/XamlTypes/Rule.cs
+++ b/src/Framework/XamlTypes/Rule.cs
@@ -422,7 +422,7 @@ public List<Category> EvaluatedCategories
                 // check-lock-check pattern DOESN'T work here because two fields get initialized within this lazy initialization method.
                 lock (_syncObject)
                 {
-                    if (null == _evaluatedCategories)
+                    if (_evaluatedCategories == null)
                     {
                         CreateCategoryNamePropertyListMap();
                     }
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@ public OrderedDictionary GetPropertiesByCategory()
             // check-lock-check pattern DOESN'T work here because two fields get initialized within this lazy initialization method.
             lock (_syncObject)
             {
-                if (null == _categoryNamePropertyListMap)
+                if (_categoryNamePropertyListMap == null)
                 {
                     CreateCategoryNamePropertyListMap();
                 }
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ public IList<BaseProperty> GetPropertiesInCategory(string categoryName)
             // check-lock-check pattern DOESN'T work here because two fields get initialized within this lazy initialization method.
             lock (_syncObject)
             {
-                if (null == _categoryNamePropertyListMap)
+                if (_categoryNamePropertyListMap == null)
                 {
                     CreateCategoryNamePropertyListMap();
                 }
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ public IEnumerable<object> GetSchemaObjects(Type type)
         /// </summary>
         private void Initialize()
         {
-            if (null != Properties)
+            if (Properties != null)
             {
                 // Set parent pointers on all containing properties.
                 foreach (BaseProperty property in Properties)
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ private void CreateCategoryNamePropertyListMap()
             {
                 _evaluatedCategories = new List<Category>();
 
-                if (null != Categories)
+                if (Categories != null)
                 {
                     _evaluatedCategories.AddRange(Categories);
                 }
diff --git a/src/MSBuild/XMake.cs b/src/MSBuild/XMake.cs
index c86b15d73dc..749f3a2b681 100644
--- a/src/MSBuild/XMake.cs
+++ b/src/MSBuild/XMake.cs
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ string [] commandLine
             catch (LoggerException e)
             {
                 // display the localized message from the outer exception in canonical format
-                if (null != e.ErrorCode)
+                if (e.ErrorCode != null)
                 {
                     // Brief prefix to indicate that it's a logger failure, and provide the "error" indication
                     Console.WriteLine(ResourceUtilities.FormatResourceStringStripCodeAndKeyword("LoggerFailurePrefixNoErrorCode", e.ErrorCode, e.Message));
@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ string [] commandLine
                     Console.WriteLine(ResourceUtilities.FormatResourceStringStripCodeAndKeyword("LoggerFailurePrefixWithErrorCode", e.Message));
                 }
 
-                if (null != e.InnerException)
+                if (e.InnerException != null)
                 {
                     // write out exception details -- don't bother triggering Watson, because most of these exceptions will be coming
                     // from buggy loggers written by users
diff --git a/src/Shared/AssemblyFolders/AssemblyFoldersEx.cs b/src/Shared/AssemblyFolders/AssemblyFoldersEx.cs
index cc6b96b05ce..da266d8220e 100644
--- a/src/Shared/AssemblyFolders/AssemblyFoldersEx.cs
+++ b/src/Shared/AssemblyFolders/AssemblyFoldersEx.cs
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ OpenBaseKey openBaseKey
 
                     string directoryName = getRegistrySubKeyDefaultValue(baseKey, directoryKey.RegistryKey);
 
-                    if (null != directoryName)
+                    if (directoryName != null)
                     {
                         _uniqueDirectoryPaths.Add(directoryName);
                         _directoryNames.Add(new AssemblyFoldersExInfo(hive, view, directoryKey.RegistryKey, directoryName, directoryKey.TargetFrameworkVersion));
diff --git a/src/Shared/EventArgsFormatting.cs b/src/Shared/EventArgsFormatting.cs
index a3556a8cc07..f23ffcf69f1 100644
--- a/src/Shared/EventArgsFormatting.cs
+++ b/src/Shared/EventArgsFormatting.cs
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ string logOutputProperties
             }
 
             // A null message is allowed and is to be treated as a blank line.
-            if (null == message)
+            if (message == null)
             {
                 message = String.Empty;
             }
diff --git a/src/Shared/NodeEndpointOutOfProcBase.cs b/src/Shared/NodeEndpointOutOfProcBase.cs
index 88b6cb2966b..d634e02563c 100644
--- a/src/Shared/NodeEndpointOutOfProcBase.cs
+++ b/src/Shared/NodeEndpointOutOfProcBase.cs
@@ -292,9 +292,8 @@ private void InternalDisconnect()
         private void EnqueuePacket(INodePacket packet)
         {
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowArgumentNull(packet, nameof(packet));
-            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _packetQueue, "packetQueue is null");
-            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(null != _packetAvailable, "packetAvailable is null");
-
+            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetQueue != null, "packetQueue is null");
+            ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrow(_packetAvailable != null, "packetAvailable is null");
             _packetQueue.Enqueue(packet);
             _packetAvailable.Set();
         }
diff --git a/src/Shared/TaskLoggingHelper.cs b/src/Shared/TaskLoggingHelper.cs
index fe6d67f1c8c..7e27f0e68a2 100644
--- a/src/Shared/TaskLoggingHelper.cs
+++ b/src/Shared/TaskLoggingHelper.cs
@@ -1313,7 +1313,7 @@ public bool LogMessageFromText(string lineOfText, MessageImportance messageImpor
             bool isError = false;
             CanonicalError.Parts messageParts = CanonicalError.Parse(lineOfText);
 
-            if (null == messageParts)
+            if (messageParts == null)
             {
                 // Line was not recognized as a canonical error. Log it as a message.
                 LogMessage(messageImportance, lineOfText);
diff --git a/src/Shared/ToolsetElement.cs b/src/Shared/ToolsetElement.cs
index e08128daad5..4f8451872ab 100644
--- a/src/Shared/ToolsetElement.cs
+++ b/src/Shared/ToolsetElement.cs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ internal static ToolsetConfigurationSection ReadToolsetConfigurationSection(Conf
             // If section definition is present and section is not present, this value is not null
             // If section definition is not present and section is also not present, this value is null
             // If the section definition is not present and section is present, then this value is null
-            if (null != configuration)
+            if (configuration != null)
             {
                 ConfigurationSection msbuildSection = configuration.GetSection("msbuildToolsets");
                 configurationSection = msbuildSection as ToolsetConfigurationSection;
diff --git a/src/Tasks.UnitTests/ResourceHandling/GenerateResourceOutOfProc_Tests.cs b/src/Tasks.UnitTests/ResourceHandling/GenerateResourceOutOfProc_Tests.cs
index 95ffcfdd9b9..655a31544a6 100644
--- a/src/Tasks.UnitTests/ResourceHandling/GenerateResourceOutOfProc_Tests.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks.UnitTests/ResourceHandling/GenerateResourceOutOfProc_Tests.cs
@@ -396,11 +396,11 @@ public void ForceSomeOutOfDate()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != firstResx) File.Delete(firstResx);
-                if (null != secondResx) File.Delete(secondResx);
-                if (null != cache) File.Delete(cache);
-                if (null != firstResx) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(firstResx, ".resources"));
-                if (null != secondResx) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(secondResx, ".resources"));
+                if (firstResx != null) File.Delete(firstResx);
+                if (secondResx != null) File.Delete(secondResx);
+                if (cache != null) File.Delete(cache);
+                if (firstResx != null) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(firstResx, ".resources"));
+                if (secondResx != null) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(secondResx, ".resources"));
             }
         }
 
@@ -1272,10 +1272,10 @@ public void FailedResXReader()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != resxFile1) File.Delete(resxFile1);
-                if (null != resxFile2) File.Delete(resxFile2);
-                if (null != resourcesFile1) File.Delete(resourcesFile1);
-                if (null != resourcesFile2) File.Delete(resourcesFile2);
+                if (resxFile1 != null) File.Delete(resxFile1);
+                if (resxFile2 != null) File.Delete(resxFile2);
+                if (resourcesFile1 != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile1);
+                if (resourcesFile2 != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile2);
             }
         }
 
@@ -1332,10 +1332,10 @@ public void FailedResXReaderWithAllOutputResourcesSpecified()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != resxFile1) File.Delete(resxFile1);
-                if (null != resxFile2) File.Delete(resxFile2);
-                if (null != resourcesFile1) File.Delete(resourcesFile1);
-                if (null != resourcesFile2) File.Delete(resourcesFile2);
+                if (resxFile1 != null) File.Delete(resxFile1);
+                if (resxFile2 != null) File.Delete(resxFile2);
+                if (resourcesFile1 != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile1);
+                if (resourcesFile2 != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile2);
             }
         }
 
@@ -1417,8 +1417,8 @@ public void InvalidStateFile()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != resxFile) File.Delete(resxFile);
-                if (null != resourcesFile) File.Delete(resourcesFile);
+                if (resxFile != null) File.Delete(resxFile);
+                if (resourcesFile != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile);
             }
         }
 
@@ -2118,10 +2118,10 @@ public void StronglyTypedResourceWithMoreThanOneInputResourceFile()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != resxFile) File.Delete(resxFile);
-                if (null != resxFile2) File.Delete(resxFile2);
-                if (null != resxFile) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(resxFile, ".resources"));
-                if (null != resxFile2) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(resxFile2, ".resources"));
+                if (resxFile != null) File.Delete(resxFile);
+                if (resxFile2 != null) File.Delete(resxFile2);
+                if (resxFile != null) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(resxFile, ".resources"));
+                if (resxFile2 != null) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(resxFile2, ".resources"));
             }
         }
 
@@ -2266,7 +2266,7 @@ public void StronglyTypedResourceFilenameWithoutLanguage()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != txtFile) File.Delete(txtFile);
+                if (txtFile != null) File.Delete(txtFile);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Tasks.UnitTests/ResourceHandling/GenerateResource_Tests.cs b/src/Tasks.UnitTests/ResourceHandling/GenerateResource_Tests.cs
index 4a6358c57a5..2beea1736da 100644
--- a/src/Tasks.UnitTests/ResourceHandling/GenerateResource_Tests.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks.UnitTests/ResourceHandling/GenerateResource_Tests.cs
@@ -1615,10 +1615,10 @@ public void FailedResXReader()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != resxFile1) File.Delete(resxFile1);
-                if (null != resxFile2) File.Delete(resxFile2);
-                if (null != resourcesFile1) File.Delete(resourcesFile1);
-                if (null != resourcesFile2) File.Delete(resourcesFile2);
+                if (resxFile1 != null) File.Delete(resxFile1);
+                if (resxFile2 != null) File.Delete(resxFile2);
+                if (resourcesFile1 != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile1);
+                if (resourcesFile2 != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile2);
             }
         }
 
@@ -1672,10 +1672,10 @@ public void FailedResXReaderWithAllOutputResourcesSpecified()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != resxFile1) File.Delete(resxFile1);
-                if (null != resxFile2) File.Delete(resxFile2);
-                if (null != resourcesFile1) File.Delete(resourcesFile1);
-                if (null != resourcesFile2) File.Delete(resourcesFile2);
+                if (resxFile1 != null) File.Delete(resxFile1);
+                if (resxFile2 != null) File.Delete(resxFile2);
+                if (resourcesFile1 != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile1);
+                if (resourcesFile2 != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile2);
             }
         }
 
@@ -1756,8 +1756,8 @@ public void InvalidStateFile()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != resxFile) File.Delete(resxFile);
-                if (null != resourcesFile) File.Delete(resourcesFile);
+                if (resxFile != null) File.Delete(resxFile);
+                if (resourcesFile != null) File.Delete(resourcesFile);
             }
         }
 
@@ -2486,10 +2486,10 @@ public void StronglyTypedResourceWithMoreThanOneInputResourceFile()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != resxFile) File.Delete(resxFile);
-                if (null != resxFile2) File.Delete(resxFile2);
-                if (null != resxFile) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(resxFile, ".resources"));
-                if (null != resxFile2) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(resxFile2, ".resources"));
+                if (resxFile != null) File.Delete(resxFile);
+                if (resxFile2 != null) File.Delete(resxFile2);
+                if (resxFile != null) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(resxFile, ".resources"));
+                if (resxFile2 != null) File.Delete(Path.ChangeExtension(resxFile2, ".resources"));
             }
         }
 
@@ -2628,7 +2628,7 @@ public void StronglyTypedResourceFilenameWithoutLanguage()
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != txtFile) File.Delete(txtFile);
+                if (txtFile != null) File.Delete(txtFile);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Tasks/AssemblyDependency/ResolveAssemblyReference.cs b/src/Tasks/AssemblyDependency/ResolveAssemblyReference.cs
index df6dba76fed..029dc8ba6d2 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/AssemblyDependency/ResolveAssemblyReference.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/AssemblyDependency/ResolveAssemblyReference.cs
@@ -2753,7 +2753,7 @@ private void PopulateSuggestedRedirects(List<DependentAssembly> idealAssemblyRem
                     List<AssemblyNameExtension> conflictVictims = reference.GetConflictVictims();
 
                     // Skip any remapping that has no conflict victims since a redirect will not help.
-                    if (null == conflictVictims || 0 == conflictVictims.Count)
+                    if (conflictVictims == null || 0 == conflictVictims.Count)
                     {
                         continue;
                     }
diff --git a/src/Tasks/CreateItem.cs b/src/Tasks/CreateItem.cs
index 472f4e0c5a8..cb7bd833620 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/CreateItem.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/CreateItem.cs
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ private List<ITaskItem> CreateOutputItems(Dictionary<string, string> metadataTab
                 )
                 {
                     ITaskItem newItem = i;
-                    if (null != metadataTable)
+                    if (metadataTable != null)
                     {
                         foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> nameAndValue in metadataTable)
                         {
diff --git a/src/Tasks/GenerateResource.cs b/src/Tasks/GenerateResource.cs
index c9b2b8fd43b..5fc96169dcf 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/GenerateResource.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/GenerateResource.cs
@@ -834,7 +834,7 @@ public override bool Execute()
                             this.StronglyTypedClassName = process.StronglyTypedClassName; // in case a default was chosen
                             this.StronglyTypedFileName = process.StronglyTypedFilename;   // in case a default was chosen
                             _stronglyTypedResourceSuccessfullyCreated = process.StronglyTypedResourceSuccessfullyCreated;
-                            if (null != process.UnsuccessfullyCreatedOutFiles)
+                            if (process.UnsuccessfullyCreatedOutFiles != null)
                             {
                                 foreach (string item in process.UnsuccessfullyCreatedOutFiles)
                                 {
@@ -1067,7 +1067,7 @@ private bool ComputePathToResGen()
             {
                 _resgenPath = ToolLocationHelper.GetPathToDotNetFrameworkSdkFile("resgen.exe", TargetDotNetFrameworkVersion.Version35);
 
-                if (null == _resgenPath && ExecuteAsTool)
+                if (_resgenPath == null && ExecuteAsTool)
                 {
                     Log.LogErrorWithCodeFromResources("General.PlatformSDKFileNotFound", "resgen.exe",
                         ToolLocationHelper.GetDotNetFrameworkSdkInstallKeyValue(TargetDotNetFrameworkVersion.Version35),
@@ -1085,7 +1085,7 @@ private bool ComputePathToResGen()
                     ExecuteAsTool);
             }
 
-            if (null == _resgenPath && !ExecuteAsTool)
+            if (_resgenPath == null && !ExecuteAsTool)
             {
                 // if Resgen.exe is not installed, just use the filename
                 _resgenPath = String.Empty;
@@ -2356,7 +2356,7 @@ internal ArrayList UnsuccessfullyCreatedOutFiles
         {
             get
             {
-                if (null == _unsuccessfullyCreatedOutFiles)
+                if (_unsuccessfullyCreatedOutFiles == null)
                 {
                     _unsuccessfullyCreatedOutFiles = new ArrayList();
                 }
diff --git a/src/Tasks/RCWForCurrentContext.cs b/src/Tasks/RCWForCurrentContext.cs
index c8944fa05b1..0511c385cb1 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/RCWForCurrentContext.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/RCWForCurrentContext.cs
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public T RCW
         {
             get
             {
-                if (null == _rcwForCurrentCtx)
+                if (_rcwForCurrentCtx == null)
                 {
                     throw new ObjectDisposedException("RCWForCurrentCtx");
                 }
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ private void CleanupComObject()
         {
             try
             {
-                if (null != _rcwForCurrentCtx &&
+                if (_rcwForCurrentCtx != null &&
                     _shouldReleaseRCW &&
                     Marshal.IsComObject(_rcwForCurrentCtx))
                 {
diff --git a/src/Tasks/ResolveComReference.cs b/src/Tasks/ResolveComReference.cs
index 89ed55d4c40..2fd1310d355 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/ResolveComReference.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/ResolveComReference.cs
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ private bool ComputePathToTlbImp()
             {
                 _tlbimpPath = GetPathToSDKFileWithCurrentlyTargetedArchitecture("TlbImp.exe", TargetDotNetFrameworkVersion.Version35, VisualStudioVersion.VersionLatest);
 
-                if (null == _tlbimpPath && ExecuteAsTool)
+                if (_tlbimpPath == null && ExecuteAsTool)
                 {
                     Log.LogErrorWithCodeFromResources("General.PlatformSDKFileNotFound", "TlbImp.exe",
                         ToolLocationHelper.GetDotNetFrameworkSdkInstallKeyValue(TargetDotNetFrameworkVersion.Version35, VisualStudioVersion.VersionLatest),
@@ -502,7 +502,7 @@ private bool ComputePathToTlbImp()
                 _tlbimpPath = SdkToolsPathUtility.GeneratePathToTool(SdkToolsPathUtility.FileInfoExists, TargetProcessorArchitecture, SdkToolsPath, "TlbImp.exe", Log, ExecuteAsTool);
             }
 
-            if (null == _tlbimpPath && !ExecuteAsTool)
+            if (_tlbimpPath == null && !ExecuteAsTool)
             {
                 // if TlbImp.exe is not installed, just use the filename
                 _tlbimpPath = "TlbImp.exe";
@@ -539,7 +539,7 @@ private bool ComputePathToAxImp()
                 // We want to use the copy of AxImp corresponding to our targeted architecture if possible.  
                 _aximpPath = GetPathToSDKFileWithCurrentlyTargetedArchitecture("AxImp.exe", targetAxImpVersion, VisualStudioVersion.VersionLatest);
 
-                if (null == _aximpPath)
+                if (_aximpPath == null)
                 {
                     Log.LogErrorWithCodeFromResources("General.PlatformSDKFileNotFound", "AxImp.exe",
                         ToolLocationHelper.GetDotNetFrameworkSdkInstallKeyValue(targetAxImpVersion, VisualStudioVersion.VersionLatest),
diff --git a/src/Tasks/SdkToolsPathUtility.cs b/src/Tasks/SdkToolsPathUtility.cs
index bac55b5daee..c9efaf7cde9 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/SdkToolsPathUtility.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/SdkToolsPathUtility.cs
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ internal static string GeneratePathToTool(FileExists fileExists, string currentA
             // Fall back and see if we can find it with the toolsLocation helper methods. This is not optimal because 
             // the location they are looking at is based on when the Microsoft.Build.Utilities.dll was compiled
             // but it is better than nothing.
-            if (null == pathToTool || !fileExists(pathToTool))
+            if (pathToTool == null || !fileExists(pathToTool))
             {
                 pathToTool = FindSDKToolUsingToolsLocationHelper(toolName);
 
diff --git a/src/Tasks/XamlTaskFactory/TaskParser.cs b/src/Tasks/XamlTaskFactory/TaskParser.cs
index cb0e46abcb3..ad7d411177f 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/XamlTaskFactory/TaskParser.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/XamlTaskFactory/TaskParser.cs
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ internal bool ParseXamlDocument(TextReader reader, string desiredRule)
             ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowArgumentLength(desiredRule, nameof(desiredRule));
 
             object rootObject = XamlServices.Load(reader);
-            if (null != rootObject)
+            if (rootObject != null)
             {
                 XamlTypes.ProjectSchemaDefinitions schemas = rootObject as XamlTypes.ProjectSchemaDefinitions;
                 if (schemas != null)
diff --git a/src/Utilities.UnitTests/TaskLoggingHelper_Tests.cs b/src/Utilities.UnitTests/TaskLoggingHelper_Tests.cs
index 9a2e54ae2bb..bf5eeb2a250 100644
--- a/src/Utilities.UnitTests/TaskLoggingHelper_Tests.cs
+++ b/src/Utilities.UnitTests/TaskLoggingHelper_Tests.cs
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ nor is this
             }
             finally
             {
-                if (null != file) File.Delete(file);
+                if (file != null) File.Delete(file);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/Utilities/ToolTask.cs b/src/Utilities/ToolTask.cs
index 78311278ac0..93ec1767db9 100644
--- a/src/Utilities/ToolTask.cs
+++ b/src/Utilities/ToolTask.cs
@@ -607,7 +607,7 @@ string responseFileSwitch
 
             // Generally we won't set a working directory, and it will use the current directory
             string workingDirectory = GetWorkingDirectory();
-            if (null != workingDirectory)
+            if (workingDirectory != null)
             {
                 startInfo.WorkingDirectory = workingDirectory;
             }
@@ -615,7 +615,7 @@ string responseFileSwitch
             // Old style environment overrides
 #pragma warning disable 0618 // obsolete
             Dictionary<string, string> envOverrides = EnvironmentOverride;
-            if (null != envOverrides)
+            if (envOverrides != null)
             {
                 foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> entry in envOverrides)
                 {
@@ -1453,7 +1453,7 @@ public override bool Execute()
                 // Old style environment overrides
 #pragma warning disable 0618 // obsolete
                 Dictionary<string, string> envOverrides = EnvironmentOverride;
-                if (null != envOverrides)
+                if (envOverrides != null)
                 {
                     foreach (KeyValuePair<string, string> entry in envOverrides)
                     {