How Do I Remove Bloated Stuff From My Ubuntu 8.04?

Hi taurus,
    Here's the way I do this:

    1) Find something in your menu that you don't want.

    2) Go to Menu -> System -> Preferences -> Main Menu (this is under gutsy; I suspect it's the same under hardy)

    3) Find the item you want to remove, right-click on it, then choose "Properties"

    4) Note what is in the "Command" field.

    5) Go to http://packages.ubuntu.com and under "Search the contents of packages" put what you noted in (4) into the field and hit the Search button.

    6) The response will tell you what package this command belongs to. You can then use Synaptic to mark that package for removal, and synaptic will tell you what other packages will be removed as a consequence. Once you see what will be removed (what other programs will be affected), you can decide whether you want to go ahead with the removal or not. If you don't want to remove what you've marked, go to the Edit menu and choose "Unmark all" to get rid of the removal marks.

    Synaptic knows how the packages depend on each other, which is why it can tell you what will happen when you want to remove one. This process will save you hard drive space, and you can always reinstall a package if you decide you need it again. If what you really want is to minimize the amount of RAM used, you'll need to try other things.

    Hope this helps!

Thanks ajlincoln, that solved my question.

ajlincoln, how are you? Regarding your advice in removing bloated stuff from my computer, I cannot uninstall KDE items. I tried to use your advice to my question, but it doesn't help. Any suggestions? I really want to remove all KDE apps from my computer. Please let me know. Thanks.

taurus, i have done quite a lot of research about removing kde apps, because at a certain point, out of curiousity, i actually installed kubuntu desktop alongside my ubuntu (or actually, inside it). i've learned that it is not very easy. you have to uninstall them one-by-one through synaptics. open synaptics and filter by searching "kde" BUT be careful. don't just select all and mark them for installation. you have to read the descriptions briefly to make sure that they are really kde stuff and to avoid your uninstalling things that should not be uninstalled.