Removal of items from the windows XP taskbar

Alright, I am wondering if there is anyway to remove the items on the list of taskbar items that you can choose to always hide, hide when inactive, or always show.  I am not wondering how to use that list, I want to know if you can get items off of that list.  The list is huge and many of the items are from programs not even installed on my computer anymore.  They never show up obviously but I just get annoyed with the huge list.  Any help on how to delete items from that list would be greatly appreciated.