Here's a novel idea: Subliminal's
new Tackybrowser lets you browse and drag-and-drop files from any VST
host. Sure, if you're using a nice host like Ableton Live you've
already got a file browser, but this will plug the hole if you've got a
Windows host that lacks one. (via kvraudio)
And while we're on "things that should be in your host anyway but if
they're not nice to have a way to fix them", there's also Senderella,
which allows send/receive for side-chaining. More fun: Konstrux lets you do modular-style effects in Tracktion. Cool.
All free, all Windows-only — nice work, Subliminal! Now, someone just
needs to create a plugin for checking email and browsing the Web from
within a VST.