its normal to have a shitload of processes running. windows xp runs a whole bunch of processes even when nothing is open. But if you want to stop programs from starting when you computer boots up there is two places you need to go to change this:
1. Right click on the start menu and choose explore.
2. Navigate to Programs->Startup
3. Delete anything you dont want in there
4. Choose Start->Run
5. Type in regedit and hit enter
6. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE->Software->Microsoft->Windows->CurrentVersion->Run
7. Delete anything in there you dont want (
NOTE: if you cant figure out what it is you probably shouldnt delete it. you can do a search on google for the executable name (like UpdReg.EXE) and alot of times the search results will tell you what that program does.
Hope that helped
