Photo

The Storage and Disk Space screens in Mac OS X and Windows can give you a basic idea of what types of files are filling up your computer's hard drive.

Q.My phone’s settings tell me how much room my apps, photos and music libraries take up. Is there a similar place on the computer I can look to see how much of my hard drive space is occupied by photos?

A. Both Windows and OS X can give you a quick snapshot of your hard drive — and what types of files are filling it up. If your hard drive becomes too full, it could start running slower and behave erratically, so monitoring the drive’s free space is a good idea.

On a Windows 8.1 computer, press the Windows and C keys to open the Charms bar on the right side of the screen; on a touch screen you can just swipe your finger in from the right edge to open the Charms Bar. Next, select Settings and then Change PC Settings. Now, select PC and Devices and on the screen after that, choose Disk Space. The Disk Space screen shows how much space is taken by each type of file — like apps, pictures, videos and documents and so on.

On a Mac running OS X Yosemite, go up to the Apple menu in the top-left corner and choose About This Mac. Click the Storage tab to see a colorful graphic depicting your hard drive’s contents, divided by categories like Photos or Applications.

Using Bluetooth Speakers With iTunes

Q. Is there a way to get iTunes on a PC to play over Bluetooth speakers? The Music app on the iPhone will play just fine, but iTunes won’t. Any ideas?

A. Once you have ensured that you have the latest updates for iTunes, QuickTime, Windows and your Bluetooth drivers, check your computer’s audio configuration. When you have paired the Bluetooth speakers with the PC, go to the Control Panel and to the sound settings for your version of Windows. Make sure those speakers are selected as the default audio output device for the computer and have not been disabled for playback.

Once you have chosen the Bluetooth hardware, quit and restart iTunes (if it was open), then try playing a song to see if the program has found the new speakers. When you are finished with iTunes or want to hear your computer’s sound through its own speakers again, return to the Control Panel and switch back from the Bluetooth speakers.

As an additional troubleshooting step, some Windows users have reported on Apple support forums that going to the Edit menu in iTunes, choosing Preferences and then Playback and switching between Direct Audio (if it is available) and Windows Audio Session may help with the issue. Quit and restart iTunes each time you fiddle with its playback settings.