> The lower right hand courner next to the time?
Yes. That’s called your “system tray”. They are programs that start when you log in.
If you have too much junk running, you can take a performance hit.
As a test you can right click on some of them and see if they have a “exit” option.
Yes, and if you exit out of them, the next time you start up your computer they come back so you do not lose them