Off stage stuff

How do I get the off stage stuff to not show up during my movie? I have a movie that includes multiple swf’s… do I need to add a mask border to all of them or is there a better way? Also, is it possible to tell the movie to come up minimized. no maximized so it shows outside the movie?

I realize that this is a way elementary question… but it’s something I have a feeling I have been handeling the hard way for a long time now and I am ready to learn the real way to handle this problem.

Thanks to anyone nice enough to answer my lame question.
-eef