How do I stop running programs.

Here's what you're looking for, but I'm not encouraging you to do this: Open Activity Monitor in the Applications/Utilities folder. Select the process you want to quit, and press quit process. Again, quitting things in the background can have ill effects.

If you are not using iCal or iPhoto, it will not be running as long as you properly quit the application (i.e. with iPhoto open, click on iPhoto in the menu bar and then click on 'quit'). It will not run unless you launch it again - that is how the Mac OS works and the apps won't be using any memory if they're not running. You can see what apps are open in your dock - there is a little indicator below the icon. So, if you see that, click on the icon and then quit it. And, the apps are still there - they just aren't running.

If, on the other hand, you are talking about deleting them: that is not a good idea at all to mess with apps which are part of the system. If you should do it, there is no way to get them back besides an install from the install disk.

You can use the Activity Monitor located at the Applications/Utilities. You can also access this by simultaneous pressing on your keyboard the following keys: Command Option and Esc. That would prompt you to a window called Force Quit. There you would see applications that are running.

Another option is like what is stated above, that you can see in your Dock what applications are running. You would see a little blue shining circle/oval below the open applications. Just left click for 1-2 sec the icon of the program you want to close and click on Quit.

Hope this would help you and good luck with your recording! 🙂