this would be how your home.tpl would look with the comments in place to totaly remove the left hand column and all its contents
this is for version 3.4.3
Code:
{* $Id: home.tpl,v 1.50 2003/04/09 07:41:05 olga Exp $ *}
{ config_load file="$skin_config" }
<html>
<head>
<title>{$lng.txt_site_title}
{if $main eq "catalog"}
{if $location eq ""} {$lng.txt_subtitle_home}
{else}
{strip}
{section name=position loop=$location start=0 }
{if %position.last% eq "true"} - {$location[position].0|escape}{/if}
{/section}
{/strip}
{/if}
{elseif $main eq "product"}
{if $product.product ne ''} - {$product.product}{/if}
{elseif $main eq "help"}
{$lng.txt_subtitle_help}
{elseif $main eq "cart"}
{$lng.txt_subtitle_cart}
{elseif $main eq "checkout"}
{$lng.txt_subtitle_checkout}
{elseif $main eq "order_message"}
{$lng.txt_subtitle_thankyou}
{/if}
</title>
{ include file="meta.tpl" }
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{$SkinDir}/{#CSSFile#}">
</head>
<body LEFTMARGIN=0 TOPMARGIN=0 RIGHTMARGIN=0 BOTTOMMARGIN=0 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0>
{ include file="rectangle_top.tpl" }
{ include file="head.tpl" }
<table border=0 width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 align="center">
<tr>
{* START COMMENT HERE ........................................................
<td class=VertMenuBox width=150 valign=top>
{ include file="customer/categories.tpl" }
{if $active_modules.Bestsellers ne "" and $config.Modules.bestsellers_menu eq "Y"}
{ include file="modules/Bestsellers/menu_bestsellers.tpl" }
{/if}
{if $active_modules.Gift_Certificates ne "" or $active_modules.Product_Configurator ne ""}
{include file="customer/special.tpl"}
{/if}
{ include file="help.tpl" }
</td>
<td width=20></td>
..........................END COMMENT HERE *}
<td valign=top>
{include file="customer/home_main.tpl"}
</td>
<td width=20></td>
<td width=150 valign=top>
{ include file="customer/menu_cart.tpl" }
{if $login eq "" }
{ include file="auth.tpl" }
{else}
{ include file="authbox.tpl" }
{/if}
{ include file="news.tpl" }
{if $active_modules.Interneka ne ""}
{ include file="modules/Interneka/menu_interneka.tpl" }
{/if}
{ include file="poweredby.tpl" }
</td>
</tr>
</table>
{ include file="rectangle_bottom.tpl" }
</body>
</html>