How do I "Uninstall" software?

I'm sure this must be posted here someplace, but I can't seem to find it. Sorry for having to ask, but how do I "Uninstall" software? I realize I can just drag an App to the Trash, right click & send it to the Trash or use the "Uninstall" feature of an App that has one, but I have several music plugins (VST, AU etc) & even Toast 9 that I need to really remove from my system. I've tried just moving things to the Trash, but that doesn't remove everything. Many Apps don't have an 'Uninstall' feature on the Installation program, so what do I do?
With Toast, I downloaded a program called Amnesia & used the demo version to remove it, but even though the App is gone from the Application Folder, it's not gone from my system, because when I right click on an ISO image, one of my choices of Apps to use is still Toast (no pun intended). I like Toast 9, but I thought I was updating my Toast 8 when I installed 9, but when I tried to use T9 (of course) it's asking me for my CD key, which (of course) I don't have.
I appreciate any help I can get on this. Thanks...

*Uninstalling Applications*
First, I suggest backing up your drive in case you uninstall something you shouldn't have uninstalled.
Most small programs can have all their components contained within an app package. After running, the program will likely install a file in Preferences (either in your user area, or the main preferences, or both). Dragging a program and its preferences to the trash is often all that is needed, or you can use a program like AppDelete to delete these programs. However, most application deleting programs will not have an inventory of what is installed -- they just look for files that are clearly associated with the application you are deleting.
Try to find files associated with the application you want to delete by using Spotlight, Finder, or [Easyfind|http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/11076/easyfind] (free and generally highly recommended) to search for the application's name. Favorite folders for files to be installed are:
/Applications/
/Library/Preferences/
/Users/YourName/Library/Application Support/
/Users/YourName/Library/Preferences
where YourName refers to the user name when you login and the / indicates the series of folders down from your main drive. Note that there are folders with identical names but in very different locations.
A few programs may set login items to start automatically when your computer starts or a specific user logs in. These items are located in: /Library/StartupItems/ or /Users/YourName/Library/StartupItems/ To edit these, go to your account set up in System Preferences, login items tab, select the item(s) and a "-" to remove.
More involved programs (e.g., Office) may install bits and pieces all over the place, like fonts, libraries, etc. The software installer may have an uninstall option, or there may be a separate uninstaller for these. In bad situations you have to hunt around yourself.
Some programs install invisible files. You can use a utility such as Onyx to toggle visibility on your computer and check for invisible files.
Sometimes programs install files (often hidden) not readily associated with the program and if you're worried about those the only thing to do is a scan before and after installing a program and see what has changed.
Check out the utility [AppDelete|www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/systemdiskutilities/appdelete.html]. It will remove simple applications and most of their associated files.
[X Lab FAQ: Uninstalling applications|http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/uninstallingapps.html]
[http://guides.macrumors.com/UninstallingApplications_in_Mac_OSX]
[Apple Discussion with useful tips|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1963113&tstart=0]

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