OS X search function

I don't know how to rectify your problem but for the future I would recommend running AppTrap, that way when you put the apps in the Trash it searches and deletes all of the associated pref files you describe. And it's free.

 

I 2nd AppTrap, for a free app it's really good

 

Now may be a good time to learn your way around the terminal and UNIX, which will allow you a thousand things no one gui app would do. For searching for files, I usually use the locate utility:

cd /usr/libexec
sudo ./locate.updatedb

after prompting for your password, this constructs the locate database. After which simply type in

locate pattern

where pattern matches a string you want to search for. For example

locate plist | grep -i aperture

returns the pathnames of all plist files (preferences, etc) files on the system belonging to Aperture.

 

You may not need search to remove programs, because there is only a few places where apps typically install stuff. Use Finder to check these folders.

<your home dir>/Library/Application Support
<your home dir>/Library/Preferences
<your home dir>/Library/PreferencePanes
<your home dir>/Library/Internet Plug-Ins

<root of hard drive>/Library/Application Support
<root of hard drive>/Library/Preferences
<root of hard drive>/Library/PreferencePanes
<root of hard drive>/Library/Internet Plug-Ins