VS 2005+Set the Visual Studio Start Page News Channel
When Visual Studio is launched, the start page is displayed. This page includes an area that is populated with up-to-date information from an RSS feed. If desired, the location of this feed can be changed to download alternative information.
Visual Studio Start Page
When Visual Studio is configured with default settings, a start page is displayed when the integrated development environment (IDE) is launched. The start page includes several sections that allow new projects to be created, existing or recent solutions to be opened and developer information to be accessed. A large portion of the page is used to show the contents of an RSS feed from MSDN.
NB: If the start page is not displayed when Visual Studio starts, you can change the start-up action to enable it.
Changing the News Feed
The RSS feed that is displayed on the start-up page can be changed to use an alternative source. To change the feed location, select "Options" from the Tools menu to show the Options dialog box. Expand the "Environment" section in the tree structure at the left of the dialog box and choose "Startup". The right side of the dialog box will update to show the start-up options. You can now enter the URL of the desired news feed into the "Start Page news channel" text box. Beneath this is another option that allows the RSS feed to be refreshed periodically.
28 March 2010