As we move files out of the primary (c:) partition, we can organize them a bit. The first logical partition I would set up would be one for all of your application programs. These are programs like Microsoft Office, Quicken, PhotoSuite, and other applications that you use to do things with your computer.
The nice thing about keeping all of your applications in one partition is that this partition will not become fragmented very quickly. So, you may seldom have to defrag this rather large partition. The size of this partition depends on how many applications you have. I’d start out with just under 8GB for your application partition. You can reduce the size later if needed.
To move your applications out of your c: partition takes a special application moving utility. If you try to use Windows Explorer to move the application folders, the folders will be moved, but the Registry in Windows will still point back to your c: drive as the location of the application. There are application movers in Norton’s CleanSweep, McAfee’s UnInstaller, and OnTrack’s EasyUninstaller 2000. You can also download COA2 from PC Magazine’s web site to do this.