So a long time ago I messed around with DirectX but I don't remember where it gets placed by default. I want to just get rid of the SDK and get the up to date version of it.
The Windows SDK for Windows 8 is the version of the SDK which supports Windows versions up to Windows 8. It can be used to build apps for earlier versions of Windows, too. (#defining WINVER, etc can ensure you don't inadvertently use Windows 8 specific calls)