Any ideas how to fix the disc space on my laptop?

Yes space take up by the OS to operate which is usually non negotiable.

15 GB of free space to operate plus the OS it's self. Around 4 GB depending on what version.

A space of about 1½ times of your RAM is set aside for your Virtual memory.

2 GB RAM = 3GB VM.

A certain % of your hard drive's capacity is set aside for all your Restore points.

The XP default was 12% although this can be reset lower.

Roughly 10% free space of your drive's capacity is set aside for the OS

defragmenting program or it wont work properly.

Then there all the Updates for the OS and OS Security.

Program and internal hardware driver updates.

Then there are the temporary internet folders. Maximum size 1 GB.

Plus History, the maximum number of days to hold/store is 999.

You know, little things like that! That's why drives should never

be allowed to exceed ¾ of their capacity!

System Restore is using all your free space (a common problem with Vista), you need to reduce the amount allocated to it.

Launch a Command Prompt window with elevated privileges, to do this...

Click the Start button, type CMD and hit Return/Enter. Right-click on the Command Prompt shortcut and select Run as Administrator. When you encounter the UAC, click 'Continue'.

Type (or copy and paste) the command:

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=c: /on=c: /maxsize=5GB

and hit Return/Enter.

Once the operation is complete, restart the system, and Vista should treat the reallocated space as available.

©Techno

Vista takes up space too!