Firefox, Daemon Tools.
I really really like Winamp, Miranda ICQ, and Media Player classic over equivalent programs, but they aren't as important as the above. I've never tried Alcohol 120 tho, so I guess Daemon Tools may not be all that, damn nifty prog though!
And dare I mention Steam?! I'm serious. It's always been good for me, plus it launches some of my favorite games I own like HL2 and DoD:S. Don't see how it's buggy or anything like that, I think Valve generally writes some quality software.