But all of a sudden I'm getting an endless stream of e-mails telling me I've been added to a bunch of strangers' "circles." And although I can tweak my account settings to stop getting these notifications, I'm really just ready to bid goodbye to Google+ altogether. (No offense to those of you who like the service; I just prefer to stick with Facebook.)

Needless to say, I want to keep my other Google services (Docs, Calendar, Gmail, etc.), so I definitely don't want to cancel my entire account--just Google Plus. There's no immediately obvious way to do that, but it can be done. Here's how.

Sign into your Google+ account. Near the upper right corner, click on your account name (or e-mail address, whichever is shown), then click Account settings. In the Services section, click Delete profile and remove associated social features. On the following page, choose Delete Google+ content, then click Remove selected services.

That's it! You're no longer part of Google+ or its circles. Of course, you can always rejoin later if finally drive you over the edge.