Sounds like a "beer lagg" or you are getting older corporal?
These 3d party programms, they don't bother me cause i allways do the same after installing Windows and needed drivers:
MPC Homecinema - good for all sort of Videos and Soundfiles, fast and stable too.
7-zip - for compressing and decompressing files of all sort including iso's.
Sumatra PDF - The name says it. It's much more stable than Adobe Acrobat and way faster.
paint.net - for Foto editing.
Microsoft Security Essentials - for security.
Libre Office portable - in case that Wordpad is not enough.
(
notepad++ - for editing purposes.)
These Programms are moved to the desktop and from there they get installed. Afterwards they are deleted. Sounds a bit complicated. (This is be because i have UAC settings very high and by this way i must not worry about correct rightmanagment etc.)
These programms are fast, stable and work together in a way of harmony. They don't do things you won't. You can check with msconfig.exe but there are no hidden records.
They are all free. So you can buy yourself more beer and get even older.
(sorry)