Thanks fairestcape for your reply. Didn't see it 'til now.

Just so others know and the thread is complete,

  • you can turn off totals above the shopping cart from the Admin Panel: Configuration > Layout Settings > Shopping Cart - Show Totals.
  • you can turn off the shipping estimator button from the Admin Panel: Configuration > Shipping/Packaging > Shipping Estimator Display Settings for Shopping Cart.
  • to turn off the update quantities button (search buttonUpdate or ICON_IMAGE_UPDATE), if you can do it from Admin Panel, I don't know how. See my previous post for a method that worked for me.