Emulators:

General | Spectrum | C64 | Apple II | BBC | Amstrad | Oric | TRS80 | MSX | Atari

Here is a list of my favourite emulators for various 8-bit machines. The list is strictly a matter of personal taste! The emulators all run on Windows/DOS, which I use myself, but many of them are also available for other systems.

General:

MESS v0.122 - Multiple Emulator Super System [emulates just about every 8-bit computer imaginable, from BBC and C64 to Atmos and Dragon 64. While often not as versatile as a dedicated single-machine emulator, it is very easy to use for those of you who can't be bothered to figure out 20 different programs. It does not include the system ROMs needed to run the individual computers]

Spectrum:

Best emulator: EmuZWin v2.7
Best alternatives: Klive v1.1 and SPIN v0.622

Commodore C64:

Best emulator: VICE v1.22 [also covers VIC20]
Best alternative: CCS64 v3.4

Apple II:

Best emulator: AppleWin v1.14.0
Best alternative: Apple Oasis v2.5

BBC:

Best emulator: BeebEm v3.8 [features an excellent quickstart feature]
Best alternative: model-b

Amstrad:

Best emulator: CaPriCe v3.6.1
Best alternative: WinApe v2.0a8

Oric:

Best emulator: EuphORIC v1
Best alternative: ?

TRS-80:

Check http://www.trs-80.com/ for the various emulators available.

MSX:

Best emulator: fMSX v3.4
Best alternative: NLMSX v0.48

Atari 8-bit:

Best emulator: Atari 800 Win PLus v4.0