<appSettings> in Configuration

Hi, I'm having an issue I was hoping someone could help with. I'm running an instance of SQL Server 2000 and have the connection string in web.config:

<appSettings>
<add key="ConnectionString" value="server=lifebook\\lifebook; database=xxx; uid=xxx; pwd=xxx"/>
</appSettings>

The problem I have is when I read the configuration file with
ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ConnectionString"], the result is always returned with an @ symbol in front:

@"server=lifebook\\lifebook; database=xxx; uid=xxx; pwd="

This only happens when the server name contains the 2 back slashes, which I need. Does anyone know why this happens?

Thanks.

Stupid question: why do you need two back slashes?

That was exactly it. I didn't need the extra backslash and it works correctly with one. I must escape everything by habit. Thanks for setting me straight!