I need to KNOW how to clean confidential INFO, website info, and/or any other things off my hard drive without needing to reinstall Windows, etc.  I made the mistake of signing up for "surveys" about 10 days AGO, and I don't know if I've left myself vulnerable or not--but I do know I'm getting some emails from places that I, personally, did NOT go...can you recommend SOFTWARE for cleaning all that up?  Also, any recommended way to remove software for things like Quick Time player and/or other things that I never use?Download CCleaner and use this guide to configure it.
That will clean internet history, cookies etc as you want.
It also includes an uninstall tool, which you can use instead of the Windows one if you like to remove software you don't want.
If you are getting emails you don't want, chances are you may have picked up some malware too, what protection do you have?My computer has Webroot Spysweeper, and Trend Anti-Virus.  I don't think anything on your computer is at risk.  To me, it sounds like you're probably getting e-mails from the survey site's affiliates.  You should unsubscribe from the site's mailing list, as well as the mailing lists of any of these other sites.  Also try out Calum's suggestion and let us know how everything goes.If you're getting emails from places that you didn't subscribe to then chances are that unsubscribing will result in even more emails.
You are better off blocking them with your email program via the email header or keywords within the email text. Quote from: Fed on September 13, 2007, 02:10:53 PM

If you're getting emails from places that you didn't subscribe to then chances are that unsubscribing will result in even more emails.
You are better off blocking them with your email program via the email header or keywords within the email text.