My Quick Launch tray is cluttered by a lot of icons that I don't use, and more are added when I install programs. How do I remove them?

The Quick Launch tray (the bunch of icons on the left side of your toolbar) is supposed to offer you an easy way to start an application without having to minimise all your windows to get to your desktop, or to go the whole Start — All Programs route.

It can, however, get quite irritating to someone who doesn't actually use the Quick Launch tray. Deleting icons from the tray is as simple as right-clicking with your mouse on the offending icon and then clicking on "Delete".

Also, when you install a program, most of the installers will ask you whether you want to install an icon to the Quick Launch tray or not, so keep an eye out for that.

Of course, you can just do away with the Quick Launch tray in its entirety: right-click on the taskbar itself and click on "Properties". On the "Taskbar" tab, deselect the box next to "Show Quick Launch".