Thanks folks, I looked at the thread that gnomad linked to, although I wish I hadn't now.

John in Kansas said that about 40 processes running would be about right, 60 would seem a bit high, I just checked mine and I've got 71, so what hope have I got?

I downloaded WinPatrol and looked at that, disabled (or thought I had) the progs that were running on startup that I thought were appropriate and hey presto! they are not only still showing in the taskbar, but I've now got an extra one, Scotty the dog!

I give up, damn computer, just have to live with it.

Thanks for the advices anyway.