As far as i know, in VS 2005 the Community edition was greatly improved not only to support .Net 2.0 but to add some missing features too.
I have to admit that i never tested it (the new version) but i'm going to do it within the next days and let you know.

About Salamander .Net..I got a trial version from the author and tried to play a little withit.It's serious limitation for the time is that it doesn't support .Net 2.0.Also the native linking of the .net framework is kind of "tricky" to work correct, but the good thing is it works!Well, not all of the times, but most of them.About their protector is good, as it's mixing managed with native code and make it somehow "harder" to crack.

I'm on a search for the "best" .Net protectors/linkers..Maybe i'll make a list and post it here with their pros and dis listed/described also.