Favorites are a list of websites that you like to visit by simply clicking on the favorites.
The running programs are those that loaded at boot up plus any the you opened after you booted.
If we knew what operating system you were using we could help more. John's links will help, but YOU must first understand the terminology and differences.
When too many programs open at boot up and consume too many resources, One DOES NOT delete them. They simply go to Run, type msconfig, go to the startup tab and remove the check mark from them. THEY ARE NOT deleted, they simply don't load at boot. You can still use the program simply by opening it at any time.
Deleting a program is removing it completely from your computer. The best way to delete programs is to go into Control Panel, Add/Remove programs and remove it from there. Simply deleting them can cause all types of problems and wierd messages at boot.
If you are using Windows XP, it very unlikely that you would have a resource problem, but Win 9X or Win ME can easily have resource problems. Referred to in some of John's links.