Summarize this article:

Before you start ripping up that carpet with nothing but elbow grease and ambition, it's best to get prepared for the job by getting all the tools you'll need to do it right.  There's nothing expensive required, and everything should be available at any hardware store:  Heavy duty leather gloves with a padded palm are essential to keeping you hands safe. You might encounter sharp nails or tacks while pulling up carpet, and a good pair of gloves will also help you grip the carpet. A dust-mask is also a good protective barrier to use, especially if you have asthma or other respiratory problems. To pry up the carpet and tacks, you'll need a pry bar, pliers, and a hammer. While you can start ripping the carpet up with your hands, getting it started and tearing it free will require some help. To keep the job clean, it's also good to have a roll of duct tape to roll up the carpet and move it after you've cut it loose, as well as a utility knife to cut strips of carpet. Obviously, you'll need to move everything on top of the carpet out of the room and off the carpet before you start pulling it up. This can actually be more time-intensive of a process than pulling the carpet up, which shouldn't take more than 45 minutes or an hour to remove with the right technique. Find temporary homes for beds, chairs, bookcases, and other furniture in the room that's having carpet replaced. Move the furniture carefully into the new space. Don't worry about pushing it over the old carpet and ruining it, since it's coming up anyway. You need to get anything out of the way that will keep the corners of the carpet from coming up easily. Take off any molding or other edging that might be found between the wall and the floor. For the most part, carpet shouldn't be caught beneath the molding or the baseboard, because it's not usually installed that way. If you're replacing it you should probably remove it anyway, before you start with the carpet, but if you're going to keep it, it's best to leave it on. If you're remodeling an entire room, it'd be silly to put in brand new carpet before you paint the walls. Using the old carpet as a drop cloth to collect all the paint drippings before you move forward can be a real time saver. In most remodeling projects, it's best to replace the carpet as the final step in the job. Old carpet can be a real dust trap, and you'll make it a lot easier on yourself by cleaning it up a bit before you tear it out. Don't wrestle with damp, dusty, or super-dirty

Summary:
Get the necessary tools for the job. Remove all furniture from the floor. Remove the molding and other wall finishing. Schedule this project for last. Vacuum the carpet.