Adding to the flavour of it all, several freebies:
kX Project Expanding the Potential Exponentially
www.kxproject.com kX Audio Driver, kX Mixer a replacement set of drivers for your soundcard that are better than the built-ins in xp and 7 and even strip Creative's drivers (I installed this to get around an issue with my SB Audigy card not playing nicely with NI's need for 48KHz playback rate, fixed it straight away.)
Metamorphose - for renaming files or folders in bulk.
http://file-folder-ren.sourceforge.net/Freemind - if you are into mind-mapping to make your thoughts or your clients thoughts clearer, or if you use it for teaching, then this is one of two mind-mapping tools that are very handy and provide a great deal of utility, including click a keyword to go to a web-page.
http://freemind.sourceforge.netCyberkit for those needing a set of tools for tracking, tracing, pinging, fingering, whois, etc.
http://www.cyberkit.net/CCleaner (Crap cleaner) cleaning out the cache, history and other aspects of the accumulated dross that Windoze picks up over days or weeks and months of running can be tough, CCleaner does it quickly and cleanly. Make sure you check out the preferences and be certain of what you are doing or you could loose all your cookies and have to re-train your browser if, like me, you don't just automatically and blindly accept any cookies offered. Can also clean up the registry - use this if you know what you are doing, otherwise it can screw you up - You can always use the feature of backing up the registry first if you want to experiment.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/[url]7-Zip[/url] for zipping, tar'ing and reverse
AM-Deadlink for clearing out dead links in your bookmark files - it will track down and idnetify which links no longer exist, either at the page or site level.
http://www.aignes.com/products.htmMind-man personal, another mind-mapping tool.
http://www.mindman.comDefraggler - a better defragmenter I am yet to find.
http://www.defraggler.comDaemon-Tools lite - virtual CD/DVD drives your computer - handy when you get RAR files that you can't access otherwise, as well as mounting copies of key disks for software, where otherwise you might end up damaging your key/install disk through repeated insertion and ejection. Will mount ISO, NRG, RAR and others.
http://www.daemon-tools.ccFinale Notepad - the short-order version of the big bucks product free including then licence (simply so they know who is using their stuff).No longer free, US$9.95 for a download now, but still well worth the money.
http://www.finalemusic.com/NotePad/Toad Data Modeller - for those creating database-based solutions, here is a modelling tool that provides both logical and physical views of your schema. Can generate fully formed schema, scripts and population parameters for most of the major DB vendors. Not free, but 100 day free evaluation licence/trial - cagey on the actual price, but for personal use should be reasonable (will let you know when it comes time to get a licence)
http://www.quest.com/Toad-Data-Modeler/Shane
