hmmm thats very odd. Im not sure whats going on there because I tested mine over and over....hard resetting each time and it works flawlessly. Its no biggie tho just rename/delete whatever icons u dont what in the windows>start menu>programs folder. as far as the today screen try going to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Today\Items\Inbox change enabled from 0 to 1 and the same thing for the messaging one. but I dont know why ur the only one that seems to have this issue....
~mike