How do I get rid of the vertical bar in the url

This will be in your header.php, something like:

<title><?php bloginfo('name'); ?> | <?php wp_title(); ?></title>

Just change the vertical line to be included in the conditional, so that it shows on the other pages but not on the homepage, such as:

<title><?php bloginfo('name'); ?> <?php if ( is_single() ) { ?>| <?php } ?> <?php wp_title(); ?></title>

Or customise it any way you like, such as page title only:

<title><?php wp_title(); ?></title>