Downloading and Deleting Setup Files

[bruce5755]

I'm still a novice where computers are concerened, so can any-one help me with this little quandry?  When I have downloaded a file/program from the internet etc, and I save it to HDD, can I delete the set-up file once I have run the program, as I appear to have an awful lot of exe. icons on my screen and I wonder if they are taking up unnessecary disc space.  I haope you can work out what on earth I'm on about, I don't know if I've put it over very well!

Help appreciated.  Thanks.

[wideboy]

Yes, you can delete the setup programs once the installation is over but what are you going to do if you want to reinstall the program later (believe me you probably will). Hard disc space is cheap these days - get a second hard drive and save the setup files there. Alternatively back them up to a CD or DVD.

[vehelpfulguy]

If you are not sure what you are doing I would be wary of deleting anything as you may delete an important file.

It may be worth you finding out how big your hard disk is, and how much space is currently being used.

Instructions below for Windows XP

On the desktop (or the start menu) double click on My Computer and a My Computer window is displayed.  

One of the areas should show Hard Disk Drives with an icon underneath.

Right click on the icon and from the menu chose Properties. 

A Properties window is displayed, and on the General tab a small circle is shown. This circle shows how much of your hard disk has data on it, and how much is empty.

There is also an area which says Used space and Free Space. If the Free Space area is still rather large then I would not worry about deleting a few small files.

If the Free Space is small then you may need to tidy up your hard disk. If so come back here and I will give you some suggestions.  

[brachiopod]

From your "I have an awful lot of .exe icons on my screen" comment, I presume you mean the 'desktop' (the main screen).

These are all shortcuts to the programs concerned. Effectively, these shortcut icons merely direct you to the location of the program, and are not the program files themselves.
This means that if you want to 'tidy up' your desktop screen, and get rid of some of the icons you don't use any more / very often, you can safely delete the relevant icon - it will not delete the program file itself.

If you delete an icon and then need to use the program again, you will be able to locate and open it under Start > All programs.

For reasons explained by wideboy and vehelpful, you may wish to keep the set-up files, however, irrespective of whether or not you decide to delete them, you can safely delete the relevant desktop icon