Chris Breeze, Breeze Systems, provides a free utility that downloads images files either directly from the camera or using a card reader. The software can be configured to download to a specific location or create date-related folders, which is a great help in organising image files.

The things I like about Downloader are the ability to specify target folders for images and have date-based folders automatically created:

Automation Options

This feature is a useful step in maintaining some organisation in my image file archives. A small, but useful feature sets files to read-only so they can't be inadvertently modified.

Downloader can be configured to automatically download image files when it recognises a "camera event":

Automation initiation dialogue

Automation settings control exactly what happens:

Download Settings

I use the settings as shown. Some users prefer the additional safety of not deleting the files immediately just in case there is a problem. I tried this, but kept forgetting to delete the files manually. Downloader will not download any image files that already exist on the PC,  but since I typically rename files after download, I would find the same images would be uploaded.

Update: Downloader is now longer available; Chris has produced an improved version called Downloader Pro, which I have reviewed here.