What is the best way to clean windows, blinds, and shutters?

I like windex for windows, blinds and shutters (after vacuuming them first). An old towel with windex and a good deal of elbow grease on blinds and shutters - less on windows (since one move of the elbow goes a long way). And, I am always happy when I clean them because I usually wait so long that they are very dirty, and the results are wonderful. And, windex is terrific for cleaning our screened-in porch plastic furniture (that has lots of white plastic bands across it that get filthy over the winter). I am always fascinated that the white actually turns white again. We do have one big picture window on the 2nd floor of our house. A bird decorated it, and we couldn't clean it from the outside. Here, I put windex on one of the dry swiffers. The stick on the swiffer is VERY light, and it was really easy to maneuver it and clean off the mess. It turned out to be a great way to clean the entire picture window - and not too much energy to do it either (but it never gets as filthy as ...  more