I Think there is no hooks that I can find to remove those areas without touching the core files..
You can remove parts of the admin areas using this functions and with some css help.
To hide Menus
// remove unnecessary menus
function remove_admin_menus () {
global $menu;
// all users
$restrict = explode(',', 'Links,Comments');
// non-administrator users
$restrict_user = explode(',', 'Media,Profile,Appearance,Plugins,Users,Tools,Settings,Dashboard,Posts,Pages');
// WP localization
$f = create_function('$v,$i', 'return __($v);');
array_walk($restrict, $f);
if (!current_user_can('activate_plugins')) {
array_walk($restrict_user, $f);
$restrict = array_merge($restrict, $restrict_user);
}
// remove menus
end($menu);
while (prev($menu)) {
$k = key($menu);
$v = explode(' ', $menu[$k][0]);
if(in_array(is_null($v[0]) ? '' : $v[0] , $restrict)) unset($menu[$k]);
}
}
add_action('admin_menu', 'remove_admin_menus');
?>
To Brand your Header
/**REPLACE WP LOGO**/
function custom_admin_css() {
echo '<link rel="stylesheet" id="custom_admin" type="text/css" href="' . get_bloginfo('template_directory') . '/custom/custom_admin.css" />';
}
add_action('admin_head','custom_admin_css');
/**END REPLACE WP LOGO**/
And create a custom_admin.css file with this line
#header-logo {background-image: url(images/client_logo.jpg);}
To modify Header Menu
//Edit Top Menu
function custom_favorite_actions($actions) {
unset($actions['edit-comments.php']); //remove Comments from menu
unset($actions['media-new.php']); // remove Upload media menu
unset($actions['post-new.php?post_type=page']); // Remove options/menu for new pages
return $actions;
}
add_filter('favorite_actions', 'custom_favorite_actions');
To Replace the footer
/**REPLACE FOOTER TEXT**/
function filter_footer_admin() { ?>
Created by <a href="#">Your Company</a> | Built with <a href="http://wordpress.org">WordPress</a>
<?php }
add_filter('admin_footer_text', 'filter_footer_admin');
/**END REPLACE FOOTER TEXT**/