I had the requirement to create a splash screen recently and did some quick searching to see what the recommended method was in .NET and Windows Forms. I found a number of large code samples, controls you can download, but everything seemed too complicated. It shouldn’t be that hard. Then I ran across Eric Gunnerson’s blog post which recommends simply loading the screen in the constructor of your form and then closing it in the Activated event. It’s incredibly simple and works perfectly.
-James
Unfortunately, when I need to show a splash screen it usually needs to be updatable ("Loading...", "Initializing...", "Getting Ready...") which means doing work in a separate thread and making sure that the splash screen UI is updated in a thread-safe manner, etc.
I guess if all you need to do is show a graphic then Eric's method is fine. (Though I do like it when programs that do that have a "stop showing splash screen" options; I don't need a graphic pegged in the middle of the screen the 7th time I launch an app.)