Control Panel – Windows Blog by Brink

Control Panel

Add or Remove Control Panel in Navigation Pane of File Explorer in Windows 11

You can use Control Panel to change settings for Windows. These settings control nearly everything about how Windows looks and works, and you can use them to set up Windows so that it’s just right for you.

When you open the Control Panel, you can select to view the Control Panel in either the Category, Large icons, or Small icons view.

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove Control Panel in the navigation pane of File Explorer for your account in Windows 11.

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Enable or Disable Control Panel and Settings in Windows 11

Microsoft designed Settings to be beautiful, easy to use and inclusive of all your Microsoft experiences in Windows 11. Settings has left-handed navigation that persists between pages, and Microsoft has added breadcrumbs as you navigate deeper into Settings to help you know where you are and not lose your place. Settings pages are also all new, with new hero controls at the top that highlight key information and frequently used settings for you to adjust as you need. These new hero controls span across several category pages like System, Bluetooth & devices, Network & Internet, Personalization, Accounts, and Windows Update. Microsoft also have added expandable boxes for pages with a lot of settings.

You can also use Control Panel to change settings for Windows 11. These settings control nearly everything about how Windows looks and works, and you can use them to set up Windows so that it’s just right for you.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the Control Panel and Settings for specific or all users in Windows 11.

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Open Control Panel in Windows 11

You can use Control Panel to change settings for Windows. These settings control nearly everything about how Windows looks and works, and you can use them to set up Windows so that it’s just right for you.

When you open the Control Panel, you can select to view the Control Panel in either the Category, Large icons, or Small icons view.

This tutorial will show you how to open the Control Panel and change to Category, Large icons, or Small icons view in Windows 11.

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How to Add Hyper-V Manager to Control Panel in Windows 10

Whether you are a software developer, an IT professional, or a technology enthusiast, many of you need to run multiple operating systems. Hyper-V lets you run multiple operating systems as virtual machines on Windows.

Hyper-V specifically provides hardware virtualization. That means each virtual machine runs on virtual hardware. Hyper-V lets you create virtual hard drives, virtual switches, and a number of other virtual devices all of which can be added to virtual machines.

Hyper-V is only available on 64-bit versions of Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education. It is not available on the Home edition.

Hyper-V Manager provides management access to your virtualization platform.

This tutorial will show you how to add a Hyper-V Manager applet to the Control Panel for all users in Windows 10.

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How to Add Settings to Control Panel in Windows 10

Most of the settings you’ll want to change in Windows 10 are in Settings. Settings is organized into the separate System, Devices, Phone, Network & Internet, Personalization, Apps, Accounts, Time & language, Gaming, Ease of Access, Search, Privacy, Update & Security, and Mixed Reality (if available) categories. You can click/tap on a category to view and change more settings for that category.

This tutorial will show you how to add a Settings applet to the Control Panel for all users in Windows 10.

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How to Add Registry Editor to Control Panel in Windows

System configuration information is stored centrally in a hierarchical database called the registry. The registry is a system-defined database in which applications and system components store and retrieve configuration data. The data stored in the registry varies according to the version of Microsoft Windows. Applications use the registry API to retrieve, modify, or delete registry data.

You can use Registry Editor to add and edit registry keys and values, restore the registry from a backup or to default values, and to import or export keys for reference or backup.

This tutorial will show you how to add a Registry Editor applet to the Control Panel for all users in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

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How to Add Local Group Policy Editor to Control Panel in Windows

The Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in that provides a single user interface through which all the the Computer Configuration and User Configuration settings of Local Group Policy objects can be managed.

Computer Configuration
Administrators can use Computer Configuration to set policies that are applied to computer, regardless of who logs on to the computers. Computer Configuration typically contains sub-items for software settings, Windows settings, and administrative templates.

User Configuration
Administrators can use User Configuration to set policies that apply to users, regardless of which computer they log on to. User Configuration typically contains sub-items for software settings, Windows settings, and administrative templates.

By default, policies set in the Local Group Policy Editor are applied to all users unless you apply user policy settings for administrators, specific user, or all users except administrators.

This tutorial will show you how to add a Local Group Policy Editor applet to the Control Panel for all users in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

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How to Add Color and Appearance to Control Panel in Windows

The Color and Appearance applet allows you to change the color of your taskbar, window borders, and Start menu.

Changing your color and appearance in Windows 10 is now done in Settings instead of the Control Panel.

This tutorial will show you how to add the classic Color and Appearance applet to the Control Panel for all users in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

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How to Add Desktop Background to Control Panel in Windows

Your desktop background (also called wallpaper) can be a picture from your personal collection or included with Windows, a solid color, or a slideshow playing selected pictures randomly on all displays.

Changing your desktop background in Windows 10 is now done in Settings instead of the Control Panel.

This tutorial will show you how to add the classic Desktop Background applet to the Control Panel for all users in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

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How to Add Services to Control Panel in Windows 7, 8, and 10

A service is an application type that runs in the system background without a user interface and is similar to a UNIX daemon process. Services provide core operating system features, such as Web serving, event logging, file serving, printing, cryptography, and error reporting.

The Services (services.msc) Microsoft Management Console allows you to start, stop, restart, enable, disable, and configure services in Windows.

Services is not in the Control Panel by default, but you can add it.

This tutorial will show you how to add Services to the Control Panel for all users to open it from in Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.

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How to Add Advanced User Accounts to Control Panel in Windows 7, 8, and 10

Advanced User Accounts (“netplwiz” or “control userpasswords2”) allows you to manage user accounts on the computer. You can perform the following actions from Advanced User Accounts:

Turn on or off automatically sign in to selected account at Windows 10 startup.

  • Add user accounts.
  • Remove user accounts.
  • Change name of user accounts.
  • Change group membership of user accounts.
  • Reset password of local user accounts.
  • Open Credential Manager to manage passwords.
  • Open Local Users and Groups for advanced user management.
  • Turn on or off Ctrl + Alt + Delete secure sign-in.

Advanced User Accounts is not in the Control Panel by default, but you can add it.

This tutorial will show you how to add Advanced User Accounts (“netplwiz” or “control userpasswords2”) to the Control Panel for all users to open it from in Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.

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How to Add All Tasks to Control Panel in Windows 7, 8, and 10

You can use Control Panel to change settings for Windows. These settings control nearly everything about how Windows looks and works, and you can use them to set up Windows so that it’s just right for you.

All Tasks is a list of all available Control Panel tasks for your PC.

This tutorial will show you how to add All Tasks (aka: God mode) to the Control Panel for all users to open it from in Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.

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How to Add Disk Management to Control Panel in Windows 7, 8, and 10

Disk Management is a system utility in Windows that enables you to perform advanced storage tasks. Here are some of the things Disk Management is good for:

  • To setup a new drive.
  • To extend a volume into space that’s not already part of a volume on the same drive.
  • To shrink a partition, usually so that you can extend a neighboring partition.
  • To change a drive letter or assign a new drive letter.

Disk Management is not in the Control Panel by default, but you can add it.

This tutorial will show you how to add Disk Management to the Control Panel for all users to open it from in Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.

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