looking at a free but powerful text editor

Swiss File Knife

a command line
multi function tool.

Depeche View Lite

firefox add-ons

using vm linux

windows GUI
automation

the d3caster
java game engine

free external tools,
zero install effort,
usb stick compliant:

zip and unzip
diff and merge
reformat xml
reformat source
notepad++

java sources

thread creation

cpp sources

log tracing
mem tracing
hexdump
using printf

articles

There are many free text editors around, and if you don't know which one to try first, have a look at notepad++.

the free notepad++, available for download here (take the .bin.zip), provides essential features like a straight GUI, macro recording, syntax highlighting and vertical block copying (through alt+mouse). You can choose between an installer version or the .bin.zip, which contains an executable without install effort, perfect for every usb stick.

Running Notepad++ from Depeche View to edit text:

Install Notepad++, for example in a directory c:\app\npp, then

create a config file through the config button
edit this config file (if it's not opened for edit automatically)

at the end of the file, add:

on key f9 runback c:\app\npp\notepad++.exe "$absfile"

Now run Depeche View, and press F9 to open any file for editing.

You may also right click on the reload button to have changed files reloaded automatically.