1. BootMii, allowing to most importantly backup your Wii’s memory at a very low level, to be able to restore  if something goes terribly wrong. http://bootmii.org/

2. USBLoader – allows saving and loading of legal and “legal” Wii game discs. Set-up guide in http://www.mikeandheth.com/games/97-connect-wii-usb-hard-drive.html Really useful if you want to do any of the following:

• backup your Wii DVDs to protect against scratches;
• load games much faster than from DVDs;
• other, “legal” purposes

One of the first things I did when bought a Wii (start of 2008) is installed homebrew with the Zelda hack (for description etc. http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Index.php), because I found it a quite fun hack. Actually, when installing that one I didn’t think the homebrew would get to such usable state (was thinking about a modchip back then).

Thank you homewbrew developers for all your hard work and time, it’s highly appreciatead!