BatteryCare: Freeware that tells you when and how to calibrate your laptop’s battery as maintenance, and also tells you its wear level
Anti-spyware: SpyBot-Search and Destroy has been around for decades. Very effective at sniffing out malware, registry entries, PUPS etc. Please donate to them if you like it.
Exact Audio Copy: Downloads data specific to your CD drive make and model in order for the perfect audio rips. Benchmark tool. You can also purchase a lifetime subscription to a CD recognition software (for meta data) for $8 or something.
Audacity: Audio recording from microphone, Windows, line-in etc.
WinCDEmu: Freeware emulator for disc images on your HDD (less intrusive than Daemon Tools)
Mozilla Thunderbird: Took me back to the days of Outlook Express on Windows XP – no bloat, no fuss, just simple e-mail client that comes with all the useful settings already set up with install. Please donate to them if you like it.
qBitTorrent: Probably the only torrent client out there that can search websites for you via plugins. I found some new sites through these plugins.