What programs loaded on my computer (that were all factory installed) can I safely remove please? Vista is a hog and I'd like to do this soon and properly.

Basically, all I do is surf the Internet, get some feeds and newsletters and play my own store bought games, so I'm looking to completely uninstall as much as possible safely and need instructions. Please advise.

I have ESET Smart Security suite for my protection and hope that is sufficient, or do I also need Windows Defender? I hope not as I haven't read one good thing about it and have heard it's not good to run more than one anti-spyware program on a computer.

Thanks and happy new year!!! And a happy and prosperous one at that. : ^ )