WinXP update files

[lexi]

This is probably going to sound stupid but I wanted to know if I can get rid of all the update zip files and exe. programs that I've have to download to get everything working with WinXP. What I wanted to do was copy them onto a CD and save them in case I needed them again and then take them off my hard drive so I can regain some space.

My hard drive is a 3GB and I only have 853MB left so I'd like to get some disk space back. I was going to buy another hard drive with lots of space and install it myself but after reading the boards here it scared me off of that idea.

When I downloaded these programs I put them in my "documents" folder and windows created a new folder in there for some of them. If I get rid of them does that mean I've undone my updates?
Here are some of the files I'm talking about:Mirascanv3423p.zip,aspi.zip,Nero5572.exe...there's more but the one that's most important is WBIOS120C.exe--- this was an update for my cdrw drive.
Once I opened the exe program and it ran doesn't this mean it put what was needed into the file? So I wouldn't need to keep the exe program right?

[archie]

Once I opened the exe program and it ran doesn't this mean it put what was needed into the file? So I wouldn't need to keep the exe program right?

I believe that would be the case ... at least that's the way it has always been ... it shouldn't be any different here. Whenever there's a doubt such as this, rather than deleting the files, rename them and see what happens. In this case, it may not be necessary.

[lexi]

I've been taking them off one by one and then testing the programs to make sure they still work...so far so good.