Ernest,
The best thing to do is to completely wipe the drive and start over. (I'm not kidding). It takes less time to do that (after you download all the drivers first), then to sit there and try to remove all the thousands of megs of crap on there.
If you'd like a utility to get rid of all the crap after you've "add/removed" all the programs, run...
CCleaner (ie crap cleaner)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
It works quite well, and also has a built in registry cleaner, and startup menu editor.
Btw in terms of laptops I can't recommend the duocore laptops enough. They are SLAUGHTERING the P4 based laptops. It's not even a contest. Avoid all full form laptops and just go with the power punch that the duocore's give you. A 2 ghz duo core laptop is basically like buying a dual 3.2-3.4 xeon that fits on your lap.