New York Times has an extremely helpful article about getting rid of what's called bloatware, or preinstalled software on new Windows computers.
When you start up your computer, there are often programs like McAfee or Norton, Corel, or Roxio... or Earthlink services or Internet phone services with Icons already on your desktop.
The article talks about why they're there (money for microsoft)...and why you probably don't need them.
Removing them can speed up your computer by as much as 20%, according to Microsoft.