The first thing I do. (part 1 - unix)

When I get on a new machine where I will have to spend some time I do the following tasks to make the environment somewhat sane

Unix/Linux/Solaris/etc

1: set the default shell to bash.

2:  create/update the .bash_profile with:
      a:  PS1 =  <machine name>   --  this is so I can have a bunch of putty
      b:  alias vi to vim

3:  install vim if it's not already installed (this takes care of 2-b above)

4:  install 'screen' if it's not installed.

5:  start screen and created a bunch of windows to do the actual work from.

Screen is really nice in that a disconnection from system will not cause all of my work to be lost.

If I'm trying to build a minimal Linux distro I also grab BleachBit which helps get rid of a lot of the gunk left around on a build.

link:  http://bleachbit-project.appspot.com/