I always wondered about this. When I download/install 3rd party software, eg WinZip, the download files are SAVED in my download folder in Win7. Is there any reason to keep these saved files? I do not need the HD space but just don't like keeping unnecessary stuff on my PC. Thanks.No. Most down load files will continue to be available.
Example, Open Office might be about 200 MB. So deleting the installation download can save some space.  It will continue to be around for years. But you could just burn it to a CD-R if you like to save things.

However, THEE is no proof that keeping them hurts anything. They are not active.
My personal solution is to keep significant stuff  on a 8 GB SD card.

As for disk space., the big space HOGS are the AVI movies. These can take from 600 MB to 18000 MB each. But now that I use Netflix , I have no need to keep them.So I pruned my collection down and now have some empty  hard drives I can use for other projects.
Short answer, no.

The only reason to keep them would be if you think you would be re-installing them for some reason.  I have a number of computers so I download INSTALLERS like that to a network share.  That way when I want to install that application on another computer, I don't need to download it again.  This can save lots of time if it's a large file.

Thanks! Quote from: strollin on March 07, 2014, 10:54:39 AM

The only reason to keep them would be if you think you would be re-installing them for some reason.

Given that by that time, there will probably be a newer version, why bother? I used to keep things, now I don't.