If you've got a Mac...

...then you might find these programs handy (click on the name for a link).  If you have a Windows machine, you're mostly out of luck.

First, the free stuff:

Skitch - fantastic little tool for capturing screenshots, marking them up, then sharing them with your friends, or including in documents.  It requires an invite, but I've got a few, so let me know.

Inquisitor - this plug-in for Safari enhances the search menu functionality.  I've added several search engines to it, so when I enter a search term, I can choose Google Images, Wikipedia, YouTube, and several other frequently visited sites.  Very handy.

Audacity - an audio editor that has more of a pro feel than GarageBand.  It doesn't come with all the loops and stuff, but for laying down a few tracks, it's offers a lot more flexibility.

Quicksilver - act without doing.  This little tool probably gets used more than anything else.  Great for launching programs, finding recent files, changing tracks in iTunes, or whatever I feel like.

SideTrack - upgraded driver for your trackpad.  I have a mouse at home, but on the road, not having right-click or scroll functionality is really lame (I have an older PowerBook).  This fixes that.  It also lets you tweak stuff, so even if you have a newer MacBook, it's handy.

Camino - if I ever need to check a website I'm building in something other than Safari, I could use Firefox.  But lately, it's been getting pretty bloated.  Now I use Camino, which is based on the same rendering engine, without lots of useless bells and whistles.  Plus, it's made to look all pretty in the Mac environment.

Now the it-costs-money stuff:

Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard" - other than a few programs that don't quite transfer over well, I have loved the new features in Leopard.  Plus, most of my programs load and run quicker.  I don't know how they do that: add stuff and make it quicker.

iBank - like Quicken, except for more user friendly and not too fluffy.  It gives up some features, but supposedly version 3, due soon, will help out with that.

OWC Mercury On-The-Go - okay, so it's not a program, but it still rocks.  The name is bigger than the product, but this is a sweet little external drive.  It's shock mounted, looks pretty hot, and has a top-of-the-line chipset so you get snappy performance.

in the player: Michael W. Smith - Freedom