Wanting to root my phone please help!

Okay please forgive me if this has already been answered, I've read a few questions on here but I still don't understand.

Firstly, I'm not a "techie" or anything like that, so some of the really smart words and language are a bit overwhelming for me. I'm only just thinking of rooting my phone but have no prior experience with hacking, jailbreaking or anything like this.

The only reason I want to root is to delete apps that I cannot disable that I never use and are slowing my phone down and taking up ram. Is rooting even worth it if I'm just wanting root access to delete some applications?

And I'm still a bit confused as to the security side of things, am I still protected from malware/hackers/etc as long as I don't give root permission or access to certain apps AND keep s-on (which I just found out about). For example, if I root my phone are my passwords for facebook/email/etc vulnerable, as we as my texts and phone contacts information and stuff like that?

Like I said, I'm a fish out of water here so please forgive me if these questions a bit silly.