The basic idea is that we are all signed up for dozens (if not hundreds) of web apps that we never use, or only used once and never returned. Some of them email us regularly, but even if you click the unsubscribe link on the email, that only stops you from getting updates. They still have you listed as a “user”. Many of these startups use their rolls of users to strut their apps (i.e. “We have 1.2 million users!”). Really? Comscore and others make an earnest effort to try and figure out who is actually using these apps and who are just lurking registered users that never returned, but it’s hard to do so when apps won’t release their stats. Simple page views and analytics don’t tell the real deal.

Plus, I don’t like the idea of these starving apps having my user info if I’m no longer using it. I imagine it sitting around on a CD in some founder’s apartment while he is waiting for a round of funding for his next new venture.

If you are like me, you save those early registration emails. If you didn’t put them in a folder or label them, search for keywords like “registration” or “welcome” or “password”. You might be surprised to see all the stuff you are still registered for that you’ve long forgot about.

Once I delete my account, I delete the original welcome emails so I’ll know it’s gone forever.

And my biggest point of noise reduction – prune your Following list in Twitter.

I do a full install and only install what I need so I get rid of old things that I am not using.