Windows Vista® Step by Step Deluxe Edition

Managing Hard Disks

Each program that you install and each file you create or save on your computer requires a certain amount of space on the hard disk allocated for that purpose. By default, most programs install to the Program Files folder on drive C. With most setup programs, you can choose a different location during the installation process, but there is rarely a reason to do so.

If you have a small hard disk drive, or if your hard disk is partitioned and the primary drive is smaller than ideal for the amount of data you want to store on it, you might need to take steps to clean up its contents from time to time.

You can monitor and manage your hard disks from the Disk Management area of the Computer Management console. To display information ...