A post disappeared from the forum that @zabadabadoo and I were responding to, so here is the lowdown.
Install synaptic package manager, it is in software. Once installed, launch it (you will be asked to provide your login password to elevate you to root) then click on the column with an 's' at the top, this will bring all installed applications to the top of the list. Carefully go down the list to find the offending applications then right-click on the little green box in the 's' column and select 'Mark for complete removal'. After you have selected all the apps to be removed, click on Apply. Job done.