Goten Shy, regarding your first problem with the programs along your taskbar, you can try Lightning's suggestion with the 'msconfig' utility. Also, I would suggest you removing the programs that you don't use. If you find yourself closing the same programs over and over at the taskbar, perhaps you don't have any need for it anymore.
Tig, what firewall are you using? You could try uninstalling it, or disabling it. It depends really what firewall you use.