Bring the water to a boil in a large pot over high heat.
Add the salt, and then allow the water to return to a boil.
Add the pasta and stir immediately. Cook, stirring frequently, until the pasta is al dente or cooked to your liking, following the suggested times on the package. A super skinny pasta like angel hair might take 4 minutes, and a chunky thick pasta like radiatore might take 13 or so minutes.
Drain the pasta in a colander and use it according to your recipe or sauce as desired.
Notes
Obviously, different sizes, shapes, and thicknesses of pasta will take different amounts of time, with thicker pasta taking longer. It will also differ from brand to brand. Also, know that bronze-cut pasta (pasta that has been extruded using uncoated bronze dies) will take longer to cook than most commercially produced pasta.
Aim for 6 quarts of water for every pound of pasta, and make sure your pot is large and deep enough to allow the water to boil with the pasta cooking. Salt the water generously.
Remember to stir the pasta often as it cooks to prevent sticking and clumping. Stir very often at the beginning of the cooking process. Allowing the hot water to circulate all over the pasta right from the get-go will prevent it from sticking to itself.
Only rinse cooked pasta if the recipe specifically directs you to do so. Rinsing pasta removes the starch, which adds flavor to the pasta and also encourages the sauce to adhere to it. The only time I rinse pasta is when I am using it for pasta salad, as the starch might make the salad gummy; without rinsing it, the pasta will stick together as it cools and possibly overcook in its own heat.
Reserve some of the pasta cooking water. The pasta cooking water is salted, and once the pasta is cooked, the water has a nice amount of flavor and starch in it from the noodles. Adding some pasta cooking water to the pasta sauce will help thin it out a bit, and coat the pasta with the sauce.
Don't add olive oil to the cooking water or to the pasta after it is cooked. Adding it to the water defeats the purpose of bringing the starch out and putting it to work. Adding olive oil to the cooked pasta before you add a sauce will prevent the sauce from sticking to the pasta (unless, of course, your sauce is olive oil-based, then absolutely do!).
Drain the pasta as soon as it's done to your liking. Don't let it cook to a mushy stage. It should be drained when it is just cooked and still a bit firm in the center. The noodles will continue to cook for a few minutes after they are drained, and if you add them to the sauce to finish cooking, you want to make sure to allow for that extra cooking time.
Many recipes benefit from adding the just barely al dente pasta to the sauce and finishing cooking the pasta in the sauce. This will allow the pasta to absorb some of the flavors of the sauce better than if you just tossed the two together at the end.
However you sauce the pasta, do it while the pasta is hot. The hotter the pasta, the better it will absorb the sauce.
Don't oversauce — you want to taste your perfectly cooked pasta!