Whilst writing code I ran into a strange situation where my if returns true, even if the test is clearly false. I have dumbed down the code to see if I am missing something, but the throw AccessViolationException() keeps executing.

bool valid = true;
if (valid != true)
{
    throw new AccessViolationException("WTF");
}

Does AccessViolationException have strange powers, or has my computer gone off the deep end?

Edit: The "dumbed down" means I took out all extra functions and this is the code that I was left with. These few lines are a copy and paste of what is in my application. This is my real code

Edit 2: I cleaned the solution, rebuild, rebooted.

The code currently looks like this and I am still getting the same problem where the if returns true.

bool valid = true;
if (valid != true)
{
    throw new Exception("WTF");
}

Similar code in another function works as expected. The above code is EXACTLY what is in my function at the moment.

I am pretty sure, that your code is not that, what is running on your computer. For some strange reason the compiler does not compile your code (well), and some of your previous version runs. Rebuilding (as mentioned in one comment) is a good try, but not sure it succeeds. Instead:

1. exit Visual Studio
2. Delete "bin" and "obj" folders in your project directory
3. Open VS and your project, again
4. Comile, run, and be happy.