InsideTech

Nice idea! I'll vote for Process Explorer, which has managed to remain incredibly valuable despite being bought by Microsoft a few years ago. I know a few other have mentioned EventID.net, which is a great first step for tracking down those codes you'll find in Event Viewer.

Along with the standard test software from each of the hard drive makers, TestDisk is in my box (http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk ). It is an excellent, free program that can recover/repair partitions, and more. And I know it works, because I've used it. Best of all, there is a version for just about every os on the market. Gparted ( http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/ ) is a great little live linux distro that is useful for partitioning and more. Ultimate Boot CD ( http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/ ) is another handy piece of software to have.

Eurosofts Virtual PC-Check, great lil app for testing, an entire, systems hardware, and stress testing. I also throw in a vote for UBCD.

Good idea for discussion! I also like Process Explorer and a great piece of software called HijackThis! Logs everything in the system with a small footprint and it's free! At least gives you anomalies in the system operation and changes and the automatic repair is accurate and effective as a first course of action. UltimateBootCD is also in there!

Command line tools from system internals. psexec in particular will get you a remote prompt.

I use and recommend to alot of my distributors Wire Shark...GREAT network sniffer!! And it's a free download.

Also I exchange a lot of files with my distributors and IT strips certain files, or too large to email so I use WinSCP. Great, easy to use, secured FTP site. Free to use, with the option to donate.