diff --git a/.vscode/launch.json b/.vscode/launch.json
index c1786f7a2b92a..8160fb09320e1 100644
--- a/.vscode/launch.json
+++ b/.vscode/launch.json
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 			"program": "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/gulp/bin/gulp.js",
 			"stopOnEntry": true,
 			"args": [
-				"watch-extension:json-client"
+				"hygiene"
 			],
 			"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}"
 		},
diff --git a/build/gulpfile.hygiene.js b/build/gulpfile.hygiene.js
index 514de09af3238..2881697ecd81f 100644
--- a/build/gulpfile.hygiene.js
+++ b/build/gulpfile.hygiene.js
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ const gulpeslint = require('gulp-eslint');
 const tsfmt = require('typescript-formatter');
 const tslint = require('tslint');
 const vfs = require('vinyl-fs');
+const path = require('path');
+const fs = require('fs');
 
 /**
  * Hygiene works by creating cascading subsets of all our files and
@@ -219,30 +221,57 @@ const hygiene = exports.hygiene = (some, options) => {
 		});
 	});
 
-	function reportFailures(failures) {
-		failures.forEach(failure => {
-			const name = failure.name || failure.fileName;
-			const position = failure.startPosition;
-			const line = position.lineAndCharacter ? position.lineAndCharacter.line : position.line;
-			const character = position.lineAndCharacter ? position.lineAndCharacter.character : position.character;
+	let linterForProgram = {}; // maps tslint programs to its corresponding Linter
+	const configuration = tslint.Configuration.findConfiguration('tslint-hygiene.json', '.');
 
-			console.error(`${name}:${line + 1}:${character + 1}:${failure.failure}`);
-		});
+	function createLinter(tsconfig) {
+		const program = tslint.Linter.createProgram(tsconfig);
+		const tslintOptions = { fix: false, formatter: 'json' };
+		return new tslint.Linter(tslintOptions, program);
 	}
 
-	const tsl = es.through(function (file) {
-		const configuration = tslint.Configuration.findConfiguration(null, '.');
-		const linterOptions = { fix: false, formatter: 'json', rulesDirectory: 'build/lib/tslint' };
-		const contents = file.contents.toString('utf8');
-		const linter = new tslint.Linter(linterOptions);
-		linter.lint(file.relative, contents, configuration.results);
-		const result = linter.getResult();
+	function findTsConfig(segments) {
+		let fsPath = segments.reduce((p, each) => path.join(p, each));
+		let tsconfig = path.join(fsPath, 'tsconfig.json');
+		if (fs.existsSync(tsconfig)) {
+			return tsconfig;
+		} else if (segments.length > 1) {
+			segments.splice(-1, 1);
+			return findTsConfig(segments);
+		} else {
+			return undefined;
+		}
+	}
 
-		if (result.failures.length > 0) {
-			reportFailures(result.failures);
-			errorCount += result.failures.length;
+	function getLinter(file) {
+		let segments = file.relative.split(path.sep);
+
+		// hard code the location of the tsconfig.json for the source folder to eliminate the lookup for the tsconfig.json
+		if (segments[0] === 'src') {
+			if (!linterForProgram['src']) {
+				linterForProgram['src'] = createLinter('src/tsconfig.json');
+			}
+			return linterForProgram['src'];
+		}
+		else {
+			segments.splice(-1, 1);
+			let tsconfig = findTsConfig(segments);
+			if (!tsconfig) {
+				return undefined;
+			}
+			if (!linterForProgram[tsconfig]) {
+				linterForProgram[tsconfig] = createLinter(tsconfig);
+			}
+			return linterForProgram[tsconfig];
 		}
+	}
 
+	const tsl = es.through(function (file) {
+		const contents = file.contents.toString('utf8');
+		let linter = getLinter(file);
+		if (linter) {
+			linter.lint(file.relative, contents, configuration.results);
+		}
 		this.emit('data', file);
 	});
 
@@ -276,6 +305,22 @@ const hygiene = exports.hygiene = (some, options) => {
 			this.emit('data', data);
 		}, function () {
 			process.stdout.write('\n');
+
+			for (let linter in linterForProgram) {
+				const tslintResult = linterForProgram[linter].getResult();
+				if (tslintResult.failures.length > 0) {
+					for (const failure of tslintResult.failures) {
+						const name = failure.getFileName();
+						const position = failure.getStartPosition();
+						const line = position.getLineAndCharacter().line;
+						const character = position.getLineAndCharacter().character;
+
+						console.error(`${name}:${line + 1}:${character + 1}:${failure.getFailure()}`);
+					}
+					errorCount += tslintResult.failures.length;
+				}
+			}
+
 			if (errorCount > 0) {
 				this.emit('error', 'Hygiene failed with ' + errorCount + ' errors. Check \'build/gulpfile.hygiene.js\'.');
 			} else {
diff --git a/extensions/configuration-editing/src/extension.ts b/extensions/configuration-editing/src/extension.ts
index 01badfd07681e..4b7b3e678aa7b 100644
--- a/extensions/configuration-editing/src/extension.ts
+++ b/extensions/configuration-editing/src/extension.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ const decoration = vscode.window.createTextEditorDecorationType({
 let pendingLaunchJsonDecoration: NodeJS.Timer;
 
 export function activate(context: vscode.ExtensionContext): void {
-
 	//keybindings.json command-suggestions
 	context.subscriptions.push(registerKeybindingsCompletions());
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8fd963690f464..8e5041622cfed 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
     "rimraf": "^2.2.8",
     "sinon": "^1.17.2",
     "source-map": "^0.4.4",
-    "tslint": "^5.8.0",
+    "tslint": "^5.9.1",
     "typescript": "2.6.1",
     "typescript-formatter": "4.0.1",
     "uglify-es": "^3.0.18",
diff --git a/tslint-hygiene.json b/tslint-hygiene.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..926be379b869e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tslint-hygiene.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+	"extends": "./tslint.json",
+	"rules": {
+		"no-unused-variable": true
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tslint.json b/tslint.json
index 24a7ac86d1b30..31396c2aa56af 100644
--- a/tslint.json
+++ b/tslint.json
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 		"no-string-throw": true,
 		"no-unused-expression": true,
 		"no-duplicate-variable": true,
-		// "no-unused-variable": true, // requires type information in tslint > v4
 		"curly": true,
 		"class-name": true,
 		"semicolon": [
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 07d221d90f585..54f62a0a3884e 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -599,7 +599,7 @@ chalk@^1.0.0, chalk@^1.1.1, chalk@^1.1.3:
     strip-ansi "^3.0.0"
     supports-color "^2.0.0"
 
-chalk@^2.1.0:
+chalk@^2.3.0:
   version "2.3.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/chalk/-/chalk-2.3.0.tgz#b5ea48efc9c1793dccc9b4767c93914d3f2d52ba"
   dependencies:
@@ -804,6 +804,10 @@ commander@2.8.x:
   dependencies:
     graceful-readlink ">= 1.0.0"
 
+commander@^2.12.1:
+  version "2.13.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/commander/-/commander-2.13.0.tgz#6964bca67685df7c1f1430c584f07d7597885b9c"
+
 commandpost@^1.0.0:
   version "1.2.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/commandpost/-/commandpost-1.2.1.tgz#2e9c4c7508b9dc704afefaa91cab92ee6054cc68"
@@ -3130,7 +3134,7 @@ js-yaml@3.6.1:
     argparse "^1.0.7"
     esprima "^2.6.0"
 
-js-yaml@3.x, js-yaml@^3.5.1:
+js-yaml@3.x, js-yaml@^3.5.1, js-yaml@^3.7.0:
   version "3.10.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/js-yaml/-/js-yaml-3.10.0.tgz#2e78441646bd4682e963f22b6e92823c309c62dc"
   dependencies:
@@ -5573,20 +5577,25 @@ tslib@^1.7.1:
   version "1.8.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tslib/-/tslib-1.8.0.tgz#dc604ebad64bcbf696d613da6c954aa0e7ea1eb6"
 
-tslint@^5.8.0:
-  version "5.8.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tslint/-/tslint-5.8.0.tgz#1f49ad5b2e77c76c3af4ddcae552ae4e3612eb13"
+tslib@^1.8.0:
+  version "1.9.0"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tslib/-/tslib-1.9.0.tgz#e37a86fda8cbbaf23a057f473c9f4dc64e5fc2e8"
+
+tslint@^5.9.1:
+  version "5.9.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/tslint/-/tslint-5.9.1.tgz#1255f87a3ff57eb0b0e1f0e610a8b4748046c9ae"
   dependencies:
     babel-code-frame "^6.22.0"
     builtin-modules "^1.1.1"
-    chalk "^2.1.0"
-    commander "^2.9.0"
+    chalk "^2.3.0"
+    commander "^2.12.1"
     diff "^3.2.0"
     glob "^7.1.1"
+    js-yaml "^3.7.0"
     minimatch "^3.0.4"
     resolve "^1.3.2"
     semver "^5.3.0"
-    tslib "^1.7.1"
+    tslib "^1.8.0"
     tsutils "^2.12.1"
 
 tsutils@^2.12.1: