On playing with Q7Basic as well as directly with MingW I have observed that is seems to take ages to compile for the first time.
I was wondering if it would be possible to replace it with something faster esp. on window like for example Borland C++ compiler or better still the Blazing fast C compiler - Tiny C Compiler. (http://bellard.org/tcc/)
I know, I know it is C and not C++ but it is truly very fast in compiling apps and more over it is available on all major OS platforms.
Just my 2 cents!