what the daemons ?

this is a copy of the output of `top` on my machine:

init
kflushd
kpiod
kswapd
update

would somebody please tell me what are this processes?, `init` i think i can`t kill it, right? but, i know that the ones that finish with a `d` are daemons, but i`ve been unable to find what are they doing specifically, and what about `update`? can i disable some of them?, in order to gain speed; i`m using a very old machine.
thanks in advance.
btw, i`m running slackware 4.o.o and a 2.2.6 kernel.

You might try here for an explanation. -mk

------------------
If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

again, mike onefourseven, thanks.