Driver Cleaner - http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/
Ati Catalyst - http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html
Nvidia Forceware - http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
(NB Forceware is now - finally - a WHQL certified UDP. Still worth checking here for the latest drivers and beta releases if you're having problems)
Chipset
nForce - http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
Intel - http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts ... nldID=7484
Via - http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=300
Codecs
DefilerPak - http://hellninjacommando.com/defilerpak/
(that should have just about everything you need)
Real Alternative - http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Rea ... native.htm
Quicktime Alternative
VLC media player - plays most stuff (including partially completed downloads) without the need for codecs.
Useful apps
Mozilla Firefox - ditch IE for something vastly superior!
Opera - great Firefox alternative, also far superior to IE
Autopatcher - http://www.autopatcher.com/ (still ain't tried it but punkeh keeps recommending it, so it must be good

Security
http://www.kaspersky.com/
nod32
There are no other antivirus programs out there anywhere near as effective as the above two.
Mcafee Stinger - http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/ , removes all the common virii.
If anyone has any good little apps/utilities they always use, please post 'em... I'll add stuff to this as I remember/come across them.
How to make a bootable flash drive
Courtesy of Cacker

File recovery
PhotoRec for photos from b0rked flash cards
Recuva is an alternative (thanks FBF)