Tools that I Love

Common Tools

• Launchy - I rarely use the "Start Menu" with it. It's the closest Windows tool to Mac Quicksilver. I used to use SlickRun, which is also a great tool, but I moved to Launchy because of the better user experience;
• Notepad2 - The best "simple" text editor around, it looks like the traditional Notepad, but much more powerful;
• Process Explorer - Much better than the traditional Windows Task Manager. Using it you can know what is really going on in your machine.
• Unlocker - Do you want to delete some file and Windows does not allow you because some other process is using it? Unlocker solves this kind of problems perfectly;
• TrueCrypt - Strong cryptography made easy, specially for usb sticks;
• Paint.NET - Similar to Notepad2; simple as the traditional Paint, however much much more powerful;
• Foxit - Is it so hard to read a pdf file? I can't even remember the Acrobat Reader nowadays with Foxit;
• Free Download Manager - Kick ass download manager without ads and stuff like that, although the name is not the most "creative" I ever seen;
• Firefox - I cannot figure out why people still use Internet Explorer. Firefox is great, but its add-ons are even better: del.icio.us, greasemonkey, flashgot, firebug, fasterfox, etc. are fantastic...
  

.NET Developer Tools (I haven't developed in Java for the last 2 years, so my Java tools will be in another post)

• Resharper - It's impossible to use Visual Studio without Resharper if you ever seen Java IDEs like IntelliJ and Eclipse. It makes you at least 25% more productive. I rarely use mouse in VS because of it...
• Reflector - Visual Studio Class Browser is a shame when compared with Reflector. Reflector is much more user friendly, more powerful, great disassembler and have nice plug-ins;
• Subversion - Simply the best version control system around if your team is not 200+, TortoiseSVN is a great client as well;
• Cruise Control .NET - I cannot imagine myself working in a team without a CI server anymore and Cruise Control .NET does a fantastic job. However, it could get a better default report page, like the new Cruise Control Enterprise. CCTray is great as well;
• Test Driven .NET - The best way to launch your unit tests inside Visual Studio. I love the Resharper, but its unit testing tools are not so clean/light/not intrusive as Test Driven .NET. Run Last Test feature is fantastic;
• NCover - Very simple but efficient way to check your tests coverage;
• FxCop - Great inspection tool, Microsoft could create more tools like that, however it sucks for creating custom inspection rules because of its API;
• ActiveWriter - Do you want to create a full domain model compatible with Active Record and/or NHibernate? Using ActiveWriter is the simplest way to implement it;