Merry Christmas!
Some of my favorite programs...
Agent Ransack (of course)
Irfanview - Simple graphics manipulating, including batch converts for filesize, resolution, and filetype...
Exact Audio Copy - amazing audio conversions, uses any codecs installed in Windows....
7zip - all in one program, no need for any other zip or rar tool...
SDformatter4 - formats and fixes all sd or microsd cards, takes a little study, but well worth it....
pfe101i - If you can still find it online, Programmers File Editor, been using since Win3.1, best source editor I've ever found....
Rufus - creates bootable usb flash drives, many options....
RWeverything - allows you to read and write system memory areas, including the uefi win8 embedded program key!...
These are ones I use all the time, as far as folder comparing and syncing, most software I work with uses network shares, never have locally stored anything of importance, too easy to have a user delete vital files.
I've always used Microsoft's network utilities on our servers, to do monitoring and to check for slowdowns. Big thing is to keep workstations up to date, and updated at least once a week. No XP or Vista left now, all Win7, and shifting to Win8 slowly, still working out the "user unfriendly-ness" that people complain about. So far everyone I've worked into Win8, has accepted it and actually seem to like it once they get used to it.