I have to work on lots of projects, doing lots of correspondence, some SQL, VB.NET, tracking down problems, reviewing other people's work, and determining the set of tools (internal and 3rd party) and their configurations for a group of technical workers. I have dozens (maybe hundreds) of programs on my computer. So I'm bouncing around all the time and need to have everything I work on in the same context. Thus:

1. Not having two good sized monitors drives me nuts.

2. I need a good email program that lets me organize, search, automate, and archive with good speed -- Outlook works great.

3. High-end text editing is a huge time-saver, and I used to say a dedicated program was essential, but the VS/SSMS editors are getting pretty good.

4. I need a single, efficient, compact place to go to find every program and get at frequently-used and recent files. Something like, oh, I don't know, let's call it a START MENU, that organizes ALL programs, lets me create customized shortcuts with hotkeys and command switches and environment variables, lets me pin common programs and files, shows recently used files for each program, and gives access to ALL system settings.