You made an incorrect assumption. I hadn't littered my computer with anything. I'm talking about bullshit apps which came with the computer. Apps such as (I'll read these off for you) a control panel for my Radeon video card, the same for my fan (which was unbelievably loud), Windows update, Java update, sometimes Microsoft Office update, an icon which informs me if there is a shock currently being detected (never) and if the hard drive is running (always), Bluetooth devices (I had never used one with the computer), Windows Security alerts, Windows sidebar (a genius non-creation from Microsoft), the safely-remove-hardware interface, and an unwanted volume mixer which I never touched once.

This is Vista I'm talking about, perhaps half the fault is mine for not updating to 7. And a clean reinstall might have ridden the computer of a few of these, but only a few. Also, I left out Adobe update because it's completely 3rd party but in light of your second paragraph, I agree. That shit got annoying fast.

And yes, the point I'm making and that others have reinforced is that the OS shouldn't pretend to be done booting up when it's clearly not. These things are part of the OS.