What is all this @#$%! and how do I get rid of it?

The worst thing about getting a new computer is all the crapware included. I don’t know how many of these programs I have on my computer or what any of them do. I must have at least three DVD programs, & as far as I can tell, none of them actually allow you to burn to a blank DVD. So what are they for? One seems to be to create a slide show of photos. Whoopee. Can’t I do that anyway? One simply allows you to watch movies they have listed. Uh, isn’t that what Netflix & Hulu are for? And BTW, one of the programs is called Hulu Desktop. It gives offline access to a limited number of programs. Really not very good. There is also a Netflix application. Uh, I have that website bookmarked since I am a subscriber, so again-why is this needed?
Then there is all the stuff that HP included. Tech support stuff. OK. Media stuff (don’t even understand that stuff) , HP Advisor which I guess is tech support, the HP store(can’t I just go online for that?), & HP Games. This is a trick. They let you play popular games, but what you don’t know is that you can only play them a couple of times, then you have to buy them. Of course, if you got hooked on a game, you will. Nice. The worst is an annoying toolbar that you can’t get rid of. It’s not on your browser, it’s on the desktop. It has links to all these HP sites, & can’t find a way to get rid of it. If it’s in Add & Remove Programs, I don’t know what it’s called. Thanks a lot, jerks.
Of course it came with a trial of the much hated Norton. Never ran it, finally uninstalled it. Don’t need or want that bloated computer slowing junk, no thank you. I use Avira, the free antivirus from a company in Germany that has one of the highest rates of detection out there.
On the other hand, Windows has stupidly installed something called Office Starter 2010. This is a free, cutdown version of Word & Excel, with a small changing ad in the right bottom. I can handle it. In fact I’m writing this on Word. From what I’ve read, the full, expensive version is actually installed. I just have to click & pay for it. Then it opens, replacing the starter. Don’t need it, this is just fine. I’m sure a lot of people will think this way, thus depriving Microsoft of extra money. Or is this just a way of getting people to use the real Word & Excel instead of Open Office, which is what I used on my old computer? If so, it’s actually a pretty smart thing to do.