You deleted everything from your USB key or a drive, so there should be enough free space to copy the new files, but you still get the not enough free space message in Mac OS X? This is what you need to do.
If you experience an Mac OS X program to freeze and you cannot exit it by clicking quit or using a keyboard shortcut, you can always force it to quit using the Activity Monitor.
Without too much fuss, Apple released a new version of its OS X operating systems for Mac computers. The great thing about it is, that it's completely free for the existing Mac OS X users.
VirtualBox is a great free cross-platform virtualization program that enables you to run Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and other operating systems on you Windows, OS X or Linux computer.
You can add multiple desktops to the Mac OS X Mountain Lion by using Mission Control, formerly known as Spaces. Can be really useful if you are a busy multi-tasker.
If you want to make a clean install of the new OS X Mavericks or even the older versions of Mac OS X, than I strongly suggest you to create a bootable OS X key or a drive.