That's the recent programs you've opened. You have a couple of choices in that area. You can either pin items to the start menu (they end up on top) and/or you can show recently opened items there. If you don't want to show any items there, you need to disable showing recently used items.
Right Click Taskbar > Properties > Start Menu Tab > Uncheck Store & Display Boxes
To pin an item to the start menu:
Right Click Shortcut/Item > Pin Item to Start Menu
OR
Drag to Start Button, Wait for Start Menu to pop up.