I previously had a problem on my Gateway Laptop Computer - Gateway Core2
Duo Centrino, that came pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium,
which I could not fix. I had to do a System Recovery using the on-screen
program and did not back up any of my files, in attempt to clear out
everything that I had on the computer. After I completed this process, I
set up my desktop and internet, and started over. When reviewing my Hard
Disk Drives on my "Computer" menu, I notice that my
C: Drive is almost all the way full (8.55 GB free of 139 GB).
Although I downloaded a few programs and set up my Internet Security, I
am sure I did not install anything large enough to use up almost all of
the computers storage space for programs and files. By doing the System
Recovery I thought that it would erase everything so that my computer
would be back to it's factory condition. Could my previous files still
be in the computer? After searching this forum, I did not find any
information on the specific question that convinsed me of the soultion,
or a course of action. Can anyone help me?

I created a restore point and went into the System Tools menu and
attempted the disk cleanup on the recovery drive C: where Windows Vista
is stored and then cleaned up the up the Shadow Copies, and nothing
helped. I went through many windows folders and found nothing that would
amount to the vast amount of space that is apparently taken up.