A short and readable single .vcxproj file that opens and builds in Visual Studio 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 with good default settings.

my default.vcxproj

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" InitialTargets="DisplayText">
  <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
    <VisualStudioYear Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '11.0' Or '$(PlatformToolsetVersion)' == '110' Or '$(MSBuildToolsVersion)' ==  '4.0'">2012</VisualStudioYear>
    <VisualStudioYear Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '12.0' Or '$(PlatformToolsetVersion)' == '120' Or '$(MSBuildToolsVersion)' == '12.0'">2013</VisualStudioYear>
    <VisualStudioYear Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '14.0' Or '$(PlatformToolsetVersion)' == '140' Or '$(MSBuildToolsVersion)' == '14.0'">2015</VisualStudioYear>
    <VisualStudioYear Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '15.0' Or '$(PlatformToolsetVersion)' == '141' Or '$(MSBuildToolsVersion)' == '15.0'">2017</VisualStudioYear>
    <VisualStudioYear Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '16.0' Or '$(PlatformToolsetVersion)' == '142' Or '$(MSBuildToolsVersion)' == '16.0'">2019</VisualStudioYear>
    <VisualStudioYear Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '17.0' Or '$(PlatformToolsetVersion)' == '143' Or '$(MSBuildToolsVersion)' == '17.0'">2022</VisualStudioYear>
    <VisualStudioYear Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' == ''">9999</VisualStudioYear>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Target Name="DisplayText">
    <Message Importance="high" Text="Building configuration $(Configuration) for platform $(Platform) with Visual Studio $(VisualStudioYear) ..." />
  </Target>
  <ItemGroup Label="ProjectConfigurations">
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|Win32">
      <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>
      <Platform>Win32</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|x64">
      <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>
      <Platform>x64</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Release|Win32">
      <Configuration>Release</Configuration>
      <Platform>Win32</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Release|x64">
      <Configuration>Release</Configuration>
      <Platform>x64</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
  </ItemGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Label="Globals">
    <ProjectName>MyProject</ProjectName>
    <ProjectGuid>{FFFFFFFF-FFFF-4FFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF}</ProjectGuid>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.Default.props" />
  <PropertyGroup Label="Configuration">
    <ConfigurationType>Application</ConfigurationType>
    <PlatformToolset Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' == '2012'">v110_xp</PlatformToolset>
    <PlatformToolset Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' == '2013'">v120_xp</PlatformToolset>
    <PlatformToolset Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' == '2015'">v140</PlatformToolset>
    <PlatformToolset Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' == '2017'">v141</PlatformToolset>
    <PlatformToolset Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' == '2019'">v142</PlatformToolset>
    <PlatformToolset Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' == '2022'">v143</PlatformToolset>
    <PlatformToolset Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' == '9999'">$(DefaultPlatformToolset)</PlatformToolset>
    <UseOfMfc>false</UseOfMfc>
    <CharacterSet>MultiByte</CharacterSet>
    <WholeProgramOptimization Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release'">true</WholeProgramOptimization>
    <UseDebugLibraries Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Debug'">true</UseDebugLibraries>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.props" />
  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets">
    <Import Project="$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props" Condition="exists('$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props')" Label="LocalAppDataPlatform" />
  </ImportGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutDir Condition="'$(Platform)'=='x64'">$(Configuration)\64bit\</OutDir>
    <OutDir Condition="'$(Platform)'=='Win32'">$(Configuration)\32bit\</OutDir>
    <IntDir>$(OutDir)</IntDir>
    <TLogLocation>$(OutDir)</TLogLocation>
    <IntermediateOutputPath>$(OutDir)</IntermediateOutputPath>
    <GenerateManifest>false</GenerateManifest>
    <LinkIncremental Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Debug'">true</LinkIncremental>
    <LinkIncremental Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release'">false</LinkIncremental>
    <DebuggerFlavor>WindowsLocalDebugger</DebuggerFlavor>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemDefinitionGroup>
    <ClCompile>
      <BufferSecurityCheck>false</BufferSecurityCheck>
      <WarningLevel>Level3</WarningLevel>
      <SuppressStartupBanner>true</SuppressStartupBanner>
      <ExceptionHandling>false</ExceptionHandling>
      <RuntimeTypeInfo>false</RuntimeTypeInfo>
      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;_WINDOWS;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
      <PreprocessorDefinitions>_HAS_EXCEPTIONS=0;_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_WARNINGS;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
      <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Debug'">_DEBUG;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
      <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release'">NDEBUG;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
      <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Platform)'=='x64'">WIN64;_WIN64;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
    </ClCompile>
    <ClCompile Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Debug'">
      <Optimization>Disabled</Optimization>
      <BasicRuntimeChecks>EnableFastChecks</BasicRuntimeChecks>
      <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreadedDebug</RuntimeLibrary>
    </ClCompile>
    <ClCompile Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release'">
      <Optimization>Full</Optimization>
      <StringPooling>true</StringPooling>
      <IntrinsicFunctions>true</IntrinsicFunctions>
      <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreaded</RuntimeLibrary>
      <FunctionLevelLinking>true</FunctionLevelLinking>
      <OmitFramePointers>true</OmitFramePointers>
      <FavorSizeOrSpeed>Speed</FavorSizeOrSpeed>
      <WholeProgramOptimization>true</WholeProgramOptimization>
      <InlineFunctionExpansion>AnySuitable</InlineFunctionExpansion>
      <FloatingPointExceptions>false</FloatingPointExceptions>
      <EnableEnhancedInstructionSet Condition="'$(Platform)'=='Win32'">StreamingSIMDExtensions2</EnableEnhancedInstructionSet>
      <AdditionalOptions Condition="'$(VisualStudioYear)' &gt;= '2013'">/Gw %(AdditionalOptions)</AdditionalOptions>
    </ClCompile>
    <Link>
      <SuppressStartupBanner>true</SuppressStartupBanner>
      <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
      <SubSystem>Console</SubSystem>
      <ImageHasSafeExceptionHandlers>false</ImageHasSafeExceptionHandlers>
    </Link>
    <Link Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release'">
      <EnableCOMDATFolding>true</EnableCOMDATFolding>
      <OptimizeReferences>true</OptimizeReferences>
      <LinkTimeCodeGeneration>UseLinkTimeCodeGeneration</LinkTimeCodeGeneration>
      <IgnoreEmbeddedIDL>true</IgnoreEmbeddedIDL>
      <GenerateWindowsMetadata>false</GenerateWindowsMetadata>
    </Link>
  </ItemDefinitionGroup>
  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
  <ItemGroup>
    <ClCompile Include="main.cpp" />
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>