Cool. Do you know of any programs that will tell me the programs that are safe to remove?
I think you have phrased your question wrong lol. ANY program is safe to remove, I think what you are wanting to know is what PROCESSES are safe to keep from auto starting. Processes start programs. A program that is not running is doing nothing except perhaps taking up a little hard drive space. While only you can decide WHICH programs to allow to auto start, to say that only you KNOW which are safe to allow to start is insipid, I would hope you could get a higher quality of help from here. If you knew, you wouldn't be asking.
In order to know what you should or shouldn't turn off, I think you should read
this tutorial by Grinler (the site owner, or one of this sites owners if there is more than one, I'm not sure. But I think it's safe to say he knows what he is talking about lol). Once you read it, I think you will be more prepared to ask and receive some answers.
Hope this helps you a little better to understand what is going on in the background of your computer.