Yes.. Swiping them down seems to solve the touch problems... once you get used to doing it, it is a breeze. I had been frustrated by their lack of sensitivity as well... the swipe solved it for me.
And to answer your original question, if you don't want to root, you can at least use Launcher Pro to hide any applications you don't want to use or see. They will still be installed on your phone, but if your only reason for rooting would be to get rid of the crapware applications that come on the device, you could just use the application hide feature built into launcher Pro...
Just a suggestion.