NOTE:  This tip was written based on Visual Studio 2008 but should work very similarly in 2005.

The task list in Visual Studio is a handy window pane that isn't talked about a whole lot.  You can access the pane through the View -> Task List menu.  The default location is docked to the bottom and the default view is User Tasks.

You can create a new task by clicking the icon in the toolbar.  You can change the priority of the task in the first column and mark a task as completed in the second column.

There is also a second view for the task list, and that is Comments.  You may have seen or even used comments like these in your code:

The first two comments are more common.  My personal definitions are: 1) 'HACK' means that it works as it is but eventually it needs to be reworked and 2) 'TODO' means something needs to be done to enhance the current code that is not already in place.  You can use them however you want; they literally are just comments.

The third comment, 'TIM', is one that I created myself.  You can prefix them however you want.  However, to get them to show up in the Task List you need to add your custom prefix to the token list (of which 'HACK' and 'TODO' are already in by default), like so:

1. Use the Tools -> Options menu.
2. Choose Environment -> Task List from the vertical menu within the Options dialog.
3. Type your custom prefix in the 'Name' textbox.  Select the 'Priority' as you see fit.
4. Click 'Add'.

Now when you change your Task List to the Comments view, your custom prefixed comments will show as well.  Double-click on a comment to go directly to its location in the code.