Do you mean the programs that start automatically when you first turn on your conputer? I don't use ME so can't be sure but I thing it is close to W98/95. Click on Start, select programs then look for a folder called startup. In this folder are shortcuts to programs which will start on system boot. Right click on any of these and select delete to remove the shortcut (this doesn't affect the program itself).
However some programs are run from the registry so won't appear in this list. If you are not happy about manually editing your registry then download a tool such as Tweakall from
http://www.codeforge.co.uk/home/mainframes.htm.
This will give you access to all programs kicked off from the registry.