How many Processes needed to do nothing ?

Windows xp pro sp3
Dell laptop Precision M60 workstation
1.6GHz,PM-M
Graphics,128MB, NV31GL
(yeah I know, a dinosaur)

When I first log on to windows and have no apps running, using task man I
see 50+/- processes...
Do I really need 50 processes to do nothing???
Any chance I could get rid of some of them if they're left over from old
apps or
something I'm not currently using? Or does Windows need that many just to
run?

For example there are many copies of svchost.exe running....
User name is System on several, Network Service on a couple, Local service
on several,
Is that normal?

My system seems so slow,
I've confirmed no malware or viruses, defrag regularly, turned off all
windows junk
that slows system down(menus, fade, etc etc), set for performance rather
than visual eye candy
(whatever that setting is actually called?) and done everything I can think
of to
speed up system. Doubled ram from 1g to 2g recently and that had no
appreciable effect.

Just wondering if there's possibly some of those processes that i could
dispose of?
Thanks
Mark