Task Mngr??

[captureroftyme]

OK, heres my problem. My comp. is being bogged down by SOO many programs running in task mngr. I bring up T.M. and a list of about 50 or so programs come up, all ranging from 5k to 10k. How do I find out what programs need to be running and which dont? I read something about a pid # but im somewhat computer illiterate and couldnt figure out how to match them up.
Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm

by just going to google and typing in the .exe that is running usually comes up with information on what it is.