I'm not sure this is where this should be posted but I didn't see any other possibilities. Here goes: why do I need Micrsoft SQL which seems to be taking up a LOT of space and resources? I've looked all over for this answer and do NOT see an answer anywhere.
Thank you

If you don't know why you need it you probably don't.

Where did it come from?

This is server software from Microsoft:

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/default.mspx

I'm not sure where I picked it up. Maybe it came with Microsoft Office downloads. All of the SQL components come to almost 600 MB of space and I don't know what the hell I would use it for. Then I also have Office 2003 which takes up 250 MB and I don't see much uise for that either. If I were to start a home business I think there are better, less resource eating programs. Are there not?
Thanks

There is Open Office which is free and less resource demanding perhaps. It is still 253MB on disk.

Microsoft Office is the standard as it contains Word and Outlook among the many other features. It also adds little things you might be taking for granted such as Spell checking etc. which are coming via Office and not XP.

If you are concerned about disk space I would add a hard drive and keep Office. I am not too familiar with SQL but unless you are running a server I see no use for it.

I uninstalled all of the sql components and Office still works fine. I just recently purchased a 250 G external hard drive for my backups. I guess I could use that for some of the big programs that I don't use very often.
Thanks for all your help.

Thanks for the update. Let us know if we can help further.