I am looking to free up space on my computer. I have got Windows Xp Security Updates on here from 2007.Do I need to keep all of these? I went to remove the old ones but it listed a number of programs that may not work if this is removed?!Please adviseThanks.1 person needs an answerI do too

R Bowen wrote:I am looking to free up space on my computer. I have got Windows Xp Security Updates on here from 2007.Do I need to keep all of these? I went to remove the old ones but it listed a number of programs that may not work if this is removed?!Please advise Do not remove updates. If you remove them - they will just be offered back to you when you check for updates. You are using an OS created originally in 2001. It *is* nine years old. Keep your updates. Backups - how are yours? If you need to free up space, do it by archiving *your* stuff. You should have backups of it already, and if you don't - you should stop that very unwise practice right now. Windows XP and an assortment of applications installed should take up between 4GB and 9GB (and 9GB is stretching things *a lot* for WIndows XP.) Anything beyond that range *is your stuff*. Move what you do not use elsewhere/making sure you have a backup of it as well (a backup would be defined - in this case - as having two identical copies in two distinct locations.) Uninstall any software you do not use as well. Here's some of my standard spiel about freeing up disk space... If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete theuninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed...http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm( Particularly of interest here - #4 )( Alternative: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm ) You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but yourlatest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files".. How to use Disk Cleanup http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312 You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it.. When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the system'smemory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the hiberfil.sysfile will always equal the amount of physical memory in your system. If youdon't use the hibernate feature and want to recapture the space that Windowsuses for the hiberfil.sys file, perform the following steps: - Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start, Settings,Control Panel, and click Power Options). - Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check box, thenclick OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting Never under the"System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab doesn't delete thehiberfil.sys file. - Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power Schemestab and delete the hiberfil.sys file. You can control how much space your System Restore can use... 1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.2. Click the System Restore tab.3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click onthe "Settings" button.4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest movingthe slider until you have just about 1GB (1024MB or close to that...)5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again. You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can utilize... Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to asize between 64MB and 128MB.. - Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the following: - Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK) - Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 64MB and 128MB. (It may be MUCH larger right now.) - Click OK. - Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or more.)- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet Explorer. You can use an application that scans your system for log files andtemporary files and use that to get rid of those: Ccleaner (Free!) http://www.ccleaner.com/ Other ways to free up space.. JDiskReporthttp://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/index.html SequoiaViewhttp://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/ Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used. You should now perform a full CHKDSK on your system drive (C:)... How to scan your disks for errors http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265 * will take time and a reboot You should now perform a full Defragment on your system drive (C:)... How to Defragment your hard drives http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848 * will take time Uninstall any and all third-party firewall applications (ZoneAlarm, etc)and utilize the built-in Windows Firewall only. Did I mention backups? Well - it deserves repeating...-- Shenan Stanley MS-MVP --How To Ask Questions The Smart Wayhttp://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html