Discussion on:

10 free tools for admins on a tight budget

DriveXML
GParted
LupoPen suite (I like lite and customize it)
SeaMonkey
Miranda
Pidgin
etoolz
Angry Port scanner
wireless netview
netwatcher
Netscan
NetMeter
ProcessMonitor
Current process
Vispa
7Plus
Quick config
RegScanner
Bart's tools
Linux live disk
Mac Bootcamp
Wine
Dariks wipe disk
A humungous USB drive not only with these tools (and more), but that will boot to Linux as well.

PrimoPDF is great for creating .pdf files. You can fill in and sign forms easily.

Crimson Editor - for when you need to repeat a command about 100x in your batch file, SQL script, etc.

I recently read that #4 MS Security Essentials, didn't pass some recent "certification" tests, and that it was more effective keeping a clean system clean, than anything else and miserable at cleaning an already corrupt system. Anyone else hear something similar?

Produkey, a good tool from the Nirsoft collection, is limited to a bunch of MS Products (Windows, Office, SQL, Exchange). The product able to collect IDs and keys for +1000 products is not free. The Produkey page shows a link at its top pointing to Recover Key, which is a product NOT free of charge.

I use Opsview (free version) for network monitoring. Some of the power features are missing but it does the job for my test environment: http://www.opsview.com/technology/downloads/opsview-core

Treesize free also works well for scanning hard drives when they start to get full. We use it on all of our servers. Also synctoy for moving files around. Makes migrating data very easy and you can stop and start anytime. Two great tools that should be mentioned!!

Another good remote control software that is free for personal use is TeamViewer.

I did not see any good tools to read server logs on multiple servers. Any suggestions? some business have more than one server and having the ability to pull logs from both machine and compare would be nice.

Would appreciate also if TR could provide the list for Mac users, see, we have both environments to manage.

Cheers!

I also liked the Unstoppable Copyier that gives you a possibility to just copy and no overhead of counters etc.

CC Cleaner is undoubtedly a great way of cleaning registry but their free version is not up to mark. So instead of adding it to your list, i would suggest you to add other freeware like registry recycler or safe reigstry cleaner.

I just have to say that I think Spiceworks is a tremendous resource. If you don't use it for anything else the user forums are awesome. I've never seen a site with more helpful people and as an admin tool, free is a very good price. More and more corporations are sponsoring Spiceworks so you can often get help there that isn't available for free on the corporate site, either from an employee or someone who is using that product or tool.