Did you know… You can launch VS without the splash screen (/nosplash), and maybe even save some time. - #345
According to some blog posts, this tip should save you some time using Visual Studio 2005. I’ve asked around and I think it loads Visual Studio 2008 slightly faster because there’s no pause for you to read the splash screen.
from cmd line, run devenv.exe /nosplash
and enjoy a splash screen free launch.