I have made such a list a few times in the history of this site. What is interesting is that about half that software has stood the test of time, the other half didn’t as my needs changed or I found a better alternative…

My Classics

Acronis True Image - I had DriveImage but it let me down, This is a lot friendlier as it lets you get single files out of partition backups and works most of the time without even a reboot. I am a bit annoyed as they totally changed their lineup and I went from having the “pro” version to only being able to upgrade to the “home” version. Not that big a deal except the “business” version has a feature I really want, the clever support for restoring on different hardware. And there’s the principle of the thing, so I might check the competition (paragon, O&O etc.) again
Total Commander - the tool i have owned the longest and still use. Does everything
Wirekeys - I dont use its features as much as i should. Lots of shortcuts and tools to simplify your life. I really should make the effort to add a new feature to my “learned” list every week
Object Desktop - lots of tools to customise windows. I have had it since OS2 times but might stop renewing this year as all the new transparency in almost all the toolsseem to cause problems on my ATI system (i tend to play games in a window!).
Penguinet - great little tool for ssh, scp. I have also used the freeware Tunnelier on my less used pc
Regrun - watches what is happening on my pc and blocks anythig suspicious
Ashampoo Burning Studio - I like it as a quick and easy CD/DVD burning tool
Ulead PhotoImpact - a good graphics editor that I find easy to use. Have had it since version 3 and about to upgrade to v12
Spinrite - disk failure insurance
No Hands Backup - i like the way that backup program thinks
Ace Money - simple financial program. Worked better than the commercial offerings for me
Jriver Media Center - my media player this year. Does a bit too much (i’d prefer it didnt try to “play” slideshows with my images) but has a few wonderful features such as the smarlists, good rename/retag options, and media server options.
Opera - my browser of the year. Just works ery nicely out of the box, no need for a million add ons to make it useful
Local Website Archive - web page archive capture. I use it all the time, for recipes, articles, software finds, order receipts… it’s the only one that works with opera, firefox and about every browser i have used. I just wish it could capture selected snippets only, and multiple pages at once, as the workflow is a bit clunky for me.
ACDsee - the best workflow I have found for scanning and tagging all my negatives
Flexible Renamer - the best renamer i have found, thanks to its preview function (http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014830/FlexRena/)

other software I use:

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