So throughout my time as a computer user and pc gamer I have amassed a rather large selection of tools, they aren’t always-on or even installed – but when I have to tackle an issue I will more than likely turn to them.

System Maintenance:

This is such a wide topic, I don’t think I can truly do it justice here but at least on the software front there is plenty of quality free programs to choose from:

• CCleaner (Piriform)

CCleaner does a wonderful job of getting rid of rubbish, its not an antivirus or malware program – do not be fooled into that.

• Defraggler (Piriform)

I tend to turn off Windows Defragmenter, or at least its scheduled run – its uninformative, can impact drive performance when I don’t want it to or indeed least expect it to. Defraggler then becomes my remedy, aiding me in whether I bother to defrag or not – probably once a month tops.

• Driver Sweeper (Phyxion)

Ideal for aiding in the removal of leftover drivers, widely recommended when upgrading (you uninstall the old, sweep out the crumbs then install the new set). Most recommendations are to use this in safe mode, I haven’t required to do so as yet and find it not entirely necessary.

• WinDirStat (Open Source)

Windows Directory Statistics, sometimes when you have little space left – and no apparant solution is working, you just have to find out whats taking up so much space. I think most computer users have been there at some point. This will neatly illustrate what is using so much of your disk volume, or you can browse directories by size. Do at least research folders and the like before hitting the delete button though.

When it comes to system maintenance, you must always operate with a degree of caution. Using your Google-fu is highly recommended, chances are if you’re finding something isn’t right than someone else has already asked the question and likely has an answer.

Development & Design

There is only one commercial product in this selection, where possible I like to use quality free programs – or indeed if I need something a little more – I’ll try and find a quality product which doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

• Drawplus [X4 at time of publishing] (Serif)

The only commercial product in this listing, its useful for various tasks and I find it a far friendlier interface for designing websites (and working with images alongside vector work) than anything else so far.

• Paint.NET (dotPDN LLC)

Free and a quality image manipulation program, meant as a replacement to Windows Paint – it goes far beyond with its custom plugin options and overall interface quality. GIMP might match this one its interface becomes less freeform.

• Notepad++ (Open Source)

Sick of editing text files in Notepad without syntax highlighting to make them that bit easier to understand? NP++ is quite lightweight and fantastic for those on-the-fly changes where a larger IDE is cumbersome to load up. I started programming in PHP with NP++ and its wide selection of languages for syntax highlighting make it great for a USB stick as a carry-around program.

• Aptana Studio 3

Made for web development with HTML, PHP and JavaScript assisted coding (I don’t overly use this admittedly) – and all the other features such as debugging, git integration and FTP publishing are a part of this.

Hope this helps someone out there, I will over the course of my time add more to this list. Though I will avoid common ones like Anti-virus and other security related products (these are best of searched and reviewed on from trusted sources).