I got a 16GB HP Mini around Christmas 2008 (to use for traveling, but since my Dell has died, it's become my everyday computer) and am wondering if it is time to say goodbye.

When I first got it, I noticed that the operating system (and whatever else was pre-loaded with it) took about 5GB. Once I installed Office 2007, a couple more web browsers, some virus scanners, etc., I was up to 8GB (IIRC), ~50% of the total capacity on the drive.

Even though I never download much of anything (other than Windows updates) to the internal hard drive, I've recently been getting warnings that the hard drive was near full capacity. For awhile, I tried deleting random things that I didn't need. This would help for a day or so, and then I'd be back to full capacity. Last weekend, I decided that I had had enough, so I decided to re-install Windows and start again from square one. So I did that, but almost immediately (i.e., the ONLY thing that I had downloaded and installed was Firefox), I was getting the same stupid disk full errors.

The computer went through a lot of automatic Windows updates right after the refresh, so assuming that the restore CDs loaded up the same 5GB worth of stuff that was on the computer when I bought it (I forgot to check), is it possible that I have downloaded another 10GB of Windows updates? FWIW, I used the restore CDs without actually issuing the "format c:" command at the DOS prompt, as my understanding is that the CD would do it for me. Should I try it again and do everything manually from DOS, to ensure that the C: drive is clear?

My real solution will be to go out and get a new laptop, as the netbook was never supposed to be my everyday computer. But do I need to get a new netbook as well?