My Dell mini has a 3 GB drive. All my file storage is cloud/network based Google Docs/Drive/Picasa). Gmail solves the email problem. I also installed Ubuntu Linux, so AV isn't needed (Yet). Google Docs can create/read any basic MS Office. Minis were never meant to be laptop replacements, and the cloud is the tool to solve your problem. On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 10:38 AM, Joyce A <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > "Baby" is a HP Mini with a 15.1 gig HD, running Windows XP SP 2. 10.2 gig > of the little HD is taken up with Windows software and Windows updates! > There's only 4.95 gig free space after I took out a _bunch_ of software > including (reluctantly) Firefox and Thunderbird,Java, Adobe X, Jasc Paint > Shop Pro 9, Roxio, and a couple of other things I did not really want to > remove. (I had to take a lot of pictures and WMVs off of it one at a time; > it didn't have enough memory left to create a CD!) > > The rest is necessary -- or is it? I know MSSE is essential if I want to > use "Baby" at the library (and of course, I want to). So is MS Office 2007, > and I use it and MS Works a lot. Mostly "Baby" is my diary, date book, and > logbook computer. > > I have turned off Windows updates, but there are still a bunch of these > updates in the Control Panel. They include a 63.7-meg "Compatibility Pack > for the 2007 Office System" including several security updates dated August > and September 2012; an unidentified, undated and unsized Microsoft .NET > Framework 1.1 Security Update; a 185-meg Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 > Service Pack 2 update installed in March, May, June and July of 2010; a > 169-meg Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Service Pack 2 also installed in 2010; > and a 28-meg Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1. > > Security updates for Windows XP and Windows Media Player include very much > older ones from as far back as February 2009 up to the present date, and > there is a countless gang of them! I'm sure they're taking up yet more > critical space on the little HD. Can I take out the ones dated 2011 and > backward without any harm? > > Later today, I need to install Adobe Reader and possibly "mobi" or another > reader on "Baby," so I can use it to read some books that are only > available to me online. I hope doing that won't take me back to the point > where I had only about 35 meg of memory left! > > Thanks in advance! As always, I greatly appreciate your help! > > Joyce > SE Ohio Visit our website regularly for FAQs, articles, how-to's, tech tips and much more http://freepctech.com