(1) A disk folder that contains the user's personal files. In Windows 2000 and XP, it is in \Documents and Settings\username. In Windows Vista, it is in \user\username. In the Mac, it is in /user/username, and in most Linux/Unix systems, it is in /home/username.

(2) A disk folder assigned to each user on a Unix system attached to the Internet. When you log in, the home directory is the folder you start out in. It can be used to store temporary files, permanent files, a user profile that can be "fingered," as well as lists of newsgroups that have been subscribed to. See finger and tilde.