Programs running in background

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my computer is running really slow - slow to open a new page in a browser,
slow to download messages, slow to switch programs or call them up ect
ect...

when I hit cont/alt/delete I see that I have 57 processes running .... are
these the programs I have running in the background - and if so - how can I
reduce the number of programs running in the background?

thanks
Pam


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