>If I had a D: drive on my laptop and my PC, which both have XP Pro, does this mean there was some kind of process like that that took place. Or, is it that it is complicated to do now because the tech guy at Future Shop forgot to do it in the first place at install time?

It depends on whether or not there is any unformatted disk left. If there is, you can just format the remaining logical drive using the disk tools that ship with xp. Otherwise, you may need partition magic or something comparable. Or you could take it back and make them do it the way you want it.