trying to cut space should I get rid of win. old

my Presario V2000 is as old as dirt I think I got it in 2005 maybe late 2004 brand new with XP, but with each up grade I loose size and that is one thing that I can't afford I only had "out of the store, it said 80 but it was more like in the mid 70's" I would like to empty all win.old and gain a little more space, I only have 6.49gigs left and I need my office and my adobe and after that I'm practically out of space ...she runs well "COMPAQ" I really don't have any problems with it except for space .... also can I store program files to an external hard drive and still call on them as needed? I'm Thankful for any suggestions except get another labtop

If you are 100% certain you will not need to refer to Win.old (your previous OS) then it is a waste of space.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2527-windows-old-folder-delete-windows-8-a.html