in your opinion what would be some of the better programs to consider:

ie:

Hard drive management

CPU, Ram monitoring

picture and music categorizing

and misc apps one should just have?

Do you mean "the program(s) to be added in your "own" N-lited WinXP CD"?

It deppends...

If the intend is to do a "tiny" CD, search for better alternatives for some default WinXP Software, such as Foobar 2K instead WMP (Or add it), some kind of fine image editor instead Paint, and such.

If the intend is for a great WinXP CD, so add a bunch of stuff and cosmetics.

Anyway, Windows Messenger remotion and MSN/Live messenger replacement is a "must have" IMHO.

Jeez, opinions are like arseholes... everybody has one!!

And you're sure to get a lot of them on this question (opinions, that is.)

Me? For HDD, I like these apps:

PerfectDisk

HD Tune

And for CPU/RAM, I use CPU-z and plain old vanilla Task Manager for RAM monitoring. I used to use a few different speed boosters for RAM, but they usually make your PC do funny things, so I've found it better to just add a memory stick.

Go buy one. They're dirt cheap right now!!