Yorkspace.com has a small list of essential tools. I use many of these, and a few alternatives...

From the Yorkspace.com list have not used the torrent, podcast or mp3 tools, neither have I used Thunderbird.

I certainly recommend AutoIt, particularly with the SciTE4AutoIt editor. And I use VLC media player, as my default DVD viewing application.

I use the listed 7-zip and I use an alternative called PicoZip.

There are a couple of tools where I do not use the one listed, but I use something very similar and these alternatives are listed below.

I use Uniform Server instead of WAMPSERVER, but the two installs seem very similar. Take your pick and see which works best for you.

I use WinMerge and BeyondCompare instead of ExamDiff.

The Yorkspace.com list seems pretty good and if you don't have all the software listed, give some of them a try.