It is not illegal!

In the U.S.A>

The employer owns the space you work in.
The employer owns the machine you work on.
The employer owns the property you produce on his premises, during your paid hours, both material and intellectual.

You appear paranoid. Go to several dozen web-pages, (begin with ZD, 2600, and TwoCows)....educate yourself.

Dave Bryant, HuwG, Clinton, JohninKansas have given you excellent advice.

Play with your machine.....use the simple "find" over night....see what comes up.....Windows is just DOS with a lot more extensions and files....

Norton is FUN - you can find bits of data from three years ago.....cripes .... one man at work took a three week sick-leave when I showed him where his Apple had been THREE YEARS ago.....Cleanup programs are made for PC's ... the fools are caught who use Macs.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle