How do I "optimize" my new Acer Laptop?

Ok the guy @ bestbuy tried to charge me $90 to "optimize" my new Acer Aspire 5735 & I refused because I know I can handle it myself, just need some help from everyone on here. I know it involves making programs that dont need to run on start up stop & removing programs that I probably wont ever use, but I want to know the best way to do it since I'm used to XP, not Vista (which of course came installed). I dont want mcafee (already own zonealarm security suite) and I basically just want this thing to run as fast and smooth as possible so it doesn't get bogged down from the get go like my desktop has over the years. Can someone please help me with this, I can name all the programs that are listed in the programs folder if needed or what ever might need to be done. Thanks for your time, have a good one. Please send all replies to <snipped>

 

alright cool thanks for the help. Sorry about the email thing, I changed it to send to the right one. I'll check out the guide and go from there. And thanks for the mcafee removal tool. Please leave this up for reference for myself and others