Controlling Windows Startup Programs

It seems like I’m always fighting with the programs that get started automatically when Windows starts.  Every program I install seems to add some kind of quick-launch program, control panel, or background process that I don’t really need. After a while I’ve got so many little icons in the task bar at the bottom right of my screen that it gets hard to find the programs I really do want. Not to mention the sluggish performance of my computer with all those little (or not so little) programs taking up memory and other resources.