How do I delete silence?

Sometimes I want to shrink or compact a project ("dead" bars or intros too long, etc). Which way is the easiest? I just use "ctrl a" and mark the bars I want to delete on the time ruler and press "delete", the hole is filled by marking the clips on the right side of this hole. Is this the easiest way? I found problems with clips getting in the wrong position by doing this. Can't I delete the itself in some way or another?

Thanks CJ!