Too many processes running?

XP Pro SP2

Sometimes my PC with XP Pro has very long startups. It takes 1 to 10 minutes for XP to add ten icons to the taskbar. During that time Task-manager shows a lot of different programs running.
Here are the processes that consume resources:

Ad-Watch
alg.exe
ALi5289.exe
brmfRsmg.exe
cidmwa.exe
explorer.exe
FPAVserver.exe
inetinfo.exe
iPodService.exe (I don't have an iPod)
Isass.exe
iTunesHelper.exe
jusched.exe
reader_sl.exe
Smc.exe
svchost.exe
System.exe
taskmgr.exe (sometimes it takes 30% of resources)
wmi.exe
wmipruse.exe
wvaudt.exe

The processes have these user names:
system
local service
network service
my name

Q1 -- Are any of these processes suspicious looking?

Q2 -- Are any of these processes obviously not needed?

Q3 -- What is a recommended way for me to simplify startup and eliminate suspicious processes?

Stan Hilliard