What are the tools you just can't live without.

[John B Loveland]

I always install Notepad++ and Beyond Compare (although WinMerge is a close second to Beyond Compare, and free). I also put Subversion with TortoiseSVN on my machine for local use, even though I'm currently using a different (worse) SCM product with the team.

[fickendichdu]

WinMerge Subversion Dropbox iTunes to drown out distractions Digsby ReSharper

[SBGTrading]

WinMerge.org has saved me countless hours.

[rnbergren]

Wow, Didn't think this would generate so much response. Incase anyone else is following I kind of compiled a short list of my favorites. Many were things I forgot to mention to "junior". Lets assume for the moment that the following are there Windows machine or VM, VS 2008 or 2010, SQL mgmt Studio. That to me was a given. I am a C# developer. http://Springpadit.com or MS OneNote - OneNote is the bomb www.systeminternals.com - Sys Int is just needed Wget - pull down http sites Filezilla - ftp software - Forgot to mention to "junior" Agent Ransack - Search utility - New one to me but pretty awesome Decompiler - Dis# or some such - *cough* Git, Hg, Mercurial, TFS, etc… - opinions abound about these. Take your pick Inno setup - Setup program to compile a exe for distribution. Color pic http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/ - Personal Fav. Forgot to mention. GIMP or Paint.net or photochop - Again take your pic. All do the job. I use Gimp http://www.iconfinder.com/ - Find Icons Winmerge.org - Merge Files though a good source control process should handle this. I cannot see the need for this one. Resharper - yep notepad++ - Again not sure if you have Visual Studio why??? Spybot - Someone mentioned it. Again. If you aren't surfing bad sites??? Frhed (Free Hex Editor) - yep - Forgot to mention this. It can be a real life saver on occasion. GhostDoc - It looks promising but I haven't tried it yet. Screen Sharing http://www.yuuguu.com/home or some other screen sharing site. If you cannot see the error on the users screen in action you really cannot solve the issue. Visio or the redheaded step child Dia. Seriously though Dia doesn't even come close to Visio. Other things mentioned, Rum, Vodka, Women, Music and guns not exactly in that order. Hmmm, if you need those to work ok? Seriously though aren't those the rewards for a good days work? Thanks all for the input. Much appreciated.

To err is human to really mess up you need a computer

[BrainiacV]

I always install the following... Xplorer2 - a two paned directory management. Especially love the "Robust" Move and Copy that will log an error and keep going as opposed to Microsoft's "We copied something, we won't tell you what, before we encountered an error. Thank you for playing." WinMerge - great for comparing directories and then further doing a file compare to see the extent of the changes and then lets you copy the files back and forth. NotePad++ - Notepad, who? This replacement will open many types of files and color code them appropriately.

Psychosis at 10 Film at 11

[DragonsRightWing]

John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:

One of my many mottos has always been, "Use the right hammer for the job."

From David Weber and John Ringo's "March to the Stars":

The "pick pocking wrench" was Poertena's tool of last resort - a meter-long Stillson adjustable. If a recalcitrant weapon failed to function, or, God forbid, a suit of armor locked up, it was exposed to the "pick pocking wrench". Usually, the piece of equipment shaped up immediately. If not, its exposure was increased until it shaped up or shipped out.

[vbjay net]

Sysinternals(actually working on a powershell script to keep sysinternals up to date) ninite.com to install and update a lot of software wireshark vs2010 pro ccleaner malwarebytes spybot-S&D WHS ankhsvn visual svn server

[Alan Burkhart]

VS 2008 Express Expresso (I'd have NEVER learned regular expressions without it) A cranky old text editor I wrote for my own use a few yrs ago. Probably wouldn't work for anyone else, but it saves me a lot of work when dealing with large text files. Graphics: Photo Pos Pro (formally commercial, now freeware) ** New version drops in a FireFox add-on (toolbar) without asking, but it uninstalls without issue. I sent'em some hate mail about it.

If Barney Frank eats a fruitcake, is it cannibalism?

[dbraseth]

Beyond Compare, EditPlus, SysInternals, XmlPad, Mezer Tools, LINQPad, QueryExress, BareTail, SearchAndReplace (Funduc)

[zf liu]

GVim, My favorite editor~ ATnotes, 7-zip, mini-fetion, a smart IM software in China.

[runshark]

Pen and paper

[Forgetaboutid]

to speed up building and analyzing regular expressions I use Expresso from http://www.ultrapico.com/[^]

[regalsoft]

Axialis IconWorkshop dBPoweramp Picasa SmartFTP

[Forgetaboutid]

You can quickly automate almost any repetitive task, even across multiple apps, usinghttp://www.autohotkey.com/[^] When I work on a computer without it, it drives me crazy.