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

[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.