Customize the Start Page in Visual Studio 2010

Visual Studio 2010 allows for customization of  the start page, this feature can be  used this feature to display items such as  build status, current bugs,  etc.

1. Navigate to the StartPages folder in File Explorer (in Windows Vista and Windows 7 this is located at C:Users[username]DocumentsVisual Studio10StartPages). Open StartPage.csproj and note that the StartPage.xaml file is a standard XAML page with some Visual Studio-specific controls to shows items such as recently opened projects.

2. Modify the StartPage.xaml file to include your custom text.

3. Save the file using a different  file name, such as MyStartPage.xaml (save this file in the  same directory).

4. In Visual Studio navigate to Tools>Options and select the startup node, then select your customized start page from the Custom Page dropdown.

5. Restart Visual Studio and your customized page should be visible