Removing old packages

If using rpm execute the following command

rpm -e packageName

In my case I was looking to remove old kernels, so this must be done with great care to ensure system stability.  First check which version of the kernel is running using

uname -a

Then get a list of other installed kernels

rpm -q kernel      or      rpm -qa | grep kernel

Then remove any desired extra ones, keeping at least one known old stable kernel
Further details can be found here.