Newb: Rooted Design Questions

[sh4dydesign]

Let me start out by saying this is my first smart phone. Crazy I know. When I first got it I was really taken back by how many random programs were pre-installed that I couldn't delete and the battery life was terrible. I was ready to take the thing back before I started searching and found the HTCsupertoolV3. Rooted the phone and now I love it.
I've deleted (and backed up with Ti) about every Sprint and HTC app, along with Amazon, Facebook, peep and some other social networking things. Battery life has almost doubled.
Now:
Is there a list of all the apps that are safe to delete from the Design? I've found threads for the EVO 3D and EVO 4G but nothing design specific.

Is there a way to remove the OTA update notification (without updating)? I know that I'll lose root access if I update and is sounds like a pita to re-root after the update.

Unlocking the bootloader through HTC dev voids your warranty correct?

Is changing ROMs/Kernels really necessary? As well as my phone is working now I'm not sure why one would need to...

Thanks for baring with the FNG....

 

[scoot0073]

No u dont have to flash a custom. On yr stock rooted rom u can d/l Superuser app from market to gain permissions the i would d/l Titanium Back up from market and use TB to remove all the Sprint apps that u dont want.. but do a Nandroid backup in recovery first b4 removing anything .. then then open up TB and backup every app b4 uninstalling it.. so if someting goes wrong u can restore the app..

Idk if it voids yr warrenty.. bur if u r worried about that then leave it alone..