The tools I use at work

Notepad++

A huge downside to Notepad is that it doesn't save a copy of your draft (unsaved work), so if your computer crashes or gets restarted for some reason, you'll lose everything in your notepad file that wasn't saved. With Notepad++ it seems to keep a saved copy of your draft after every keypress.
Another problem with Notepad is it's extremely-limited 'Undo' functionality.
The main thing about Notepad++ that I think makes it better than Sublime Text for simple text notes is that it starts up instantly. Sublime Text has a surprisingly long start-up time.
Another big advantage that Notepad++ has over Sublime Text 2 is the speed with which regex find-and-replace operations are completed. They're significantly faster with Notepad++.

The big problem I have with Notepad++ is that it's not as beautiful as Sublime Text 2: the default UI is packed full of icons and buttons and sidebars and too many colors, and the default file icons are too colorful / busy.
- You can fix this fairly easily if you know what settings to change.
The scrollbar is slightly wider than the one on Notepad, which I don't like.

The recommended settings below are for using Notepad++ as just a better version of Notepad (i.e. for keeping notes), and not as a code editor.
Change Notepad++'s file icon to the default Notepad one, because the Notepad++ file icon is too colorful / busy.
- https://superuser.com/questions/144125/use-windows-default-icon-with-notepad
Change the font to Calibri (what Word uses) or Consolas (what Notepad uses)
Hide autocomplete suggestions: https://stackoverflow.com/a/22635911/4115031