I've become a fan of Console2 over the last few months for a few reasons.  One, it lets me use tabs to manage the 2 or 3 console windows I usually have open.  The second reason, it is semi-transparent and looks like a command line would look in a hacker movie, but with less 3D.

I need to make a note for myself so I remember how to setup Console2 to start up as a Visual Studio command line.  Since I'll likely be setting up a new machine to my tastes every 6 to 9 months when I start a new contract, I won't be setting this up frequently enough to commit it to long term memory.

In the Console2 settings dialog, on the 'Tabs' node, add a new tab.  Give the tab an appropriate name ('VS2008').  Then in the Shell section, type the following:

cmd.exe /k ""C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"" x86

I also like to set the startup directory to my source folder at c:\projects\source.