To remove the Featured Product from the home page open /skin1/customer/main/welcome.tpl and comment (or remove) the line:
{include file="customer/main/featured.tpl" f_products=$f_products}
For multiple menus with informational/static pages:
http://www.telafirma.com/store/product.php?productid=16137
To remove the X-Cart notice and replace with links, open /skin1/main/prnotice.tpl and edit that file to suite you...