Hi John,
You can delete the backups if you like, as long as you have no intention of
ever uninstalling any given update.
Set the Folder Options/View tab (in the Control Panel) to see hidden and
system folders.
Open Windows Explorer to the %Windir% folder (usually C:\Windows).
Locate the $NtUninstallQxxxxxx$ folders (these are compressed and are
usually blue) and delete them. These contain the information necessary to
uninstall each hotfix. It is only necessary to keep them if you want to
retain the option to uninstall a hotfix.
When finished, go to Add & Remove, select a hotfix for removal. You will get
an error message followed by a prompt to remove it from the listings.
MVP Doug Knox also has written a utility to automate this process if you are
interested, see:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm
--
Best of Luck,
Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
Windows help -
www.rickrogers.org