microsoft office professional and windows internet explorer updates are over a year old do i still need them
they are taking up space

Yes you need to keep them, they are important as uninstalling them will open up the vulnerabilities that they were designed to fix.

ok but there are an awful lot and they are taking up a lot of memory
i have deleted everything i can from my computer and my available memory is depleting
everyday i use it and i am NOT downloading or adding anything...
i am at 8% available space and i can't even defrag cos it wants at least 15%
any advice?

Use this program:
http://softvb.com/Soft/system/info/diskpie2.zip
to see where the actual file space is being used up. This may help you figure out where the real hard drive space is going.