Recently w/RH7.3 I made a desktop change that deleted my taskbar...so whenever I minmized an app it would completely disappear. When rebooting or shutting down I can see all the apps behind the background (but I cant close them fast enough). I have since restored my taskbar but now the apps behind the background are still there...does anyone know how to get rid of these?

I'm not sure what you mean by "behind the background". As well, what window manager are you using? With one like KDE, you can access the other programs like you would in windows with the "Alt-Tab" combonation.