Why Do We Still Have a Control Panel in Windows?

The Windows configuration panel is literally part of the operating system from Windows 1.0, but Microsoft has decided along the way that it should be replaced by something more modern.

The fact is that the replacement and the control panel now exist side by side and have for years, so why cannot the people of Redmond finally remove the venerable control panel? Although I cannot read the minds of decision -makers, I think there are probable reasons.

If you are not sure of the menu to open when you want to modify your electric plan, manage user accounts or uninstall obstinate software, you are not alone. I think most new Windows users are probably falling on the accident control panel these days, expecting the “parameters” application containing the whole, finally, parameters.

However, now certain parameters are in both places, and some are only one or the other. If you dig enough in the Settings application and turn the wrong corner, you are back to the configuration panel. I understand that the intention was to bring closer to Windows with operating systems like Android or MacOS with an application of central parameters, but some unique circumstances have now led to this strange fractional personality when it comes to configuring your Microsoft OS.

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It’s buried, but it’s still there

You will no longer find a shortcut to the control panel on a new installation of Windows, but it still hides in the background like a ghost in the register. Type “configuration panel” in the Start menu, and that’s it. Right -click the Start button and … Oh, no, these are just settings.

But, discover far enough, and you are back in the world of the control panel. Microsoft has clearly tried to hide it, but they can’t delete it squarely without breaking a lot. And that’s exactly the problem.

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For the moments when the parameters do not cut it.

A great reason why the control panel persists is compatibility. Many older Windows applications and business tools are still based on configuration panel applets or its .cpl file system to launch certain utilities.

If there is a word that describes Microsoft Windows, it is “rooted”. It is the most popular and widespread operating system in the world. At least with regard to office computers, that is to say. Although this is not always true in the future, it’s true today. For this reason, Microsoft cannot just change the central parts of Windows Willy Nillillill.

They can make radical and disastrous changes to the appearance of windows and operate on the surface (see Windows 8), but under the hood, there are many changes just changed for decades. People, companies and government institutions are counting on software (and hardware) that have existed for years and that should continue to truck for many others.

The control panel is therefore not a crutch – it is a critical dependence for many tools and workflows. The elimination of its basic functionality for millions of people and other entities, including those that run specialized or older software in production environments.

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Power users will not let him go

Speaking of people with specific workflows, whenever you try to delete or reorganize something like a control panel, there will be a lot of perspective of people with a muscle memory of windows engraved in their brains. Particularly “power” users and IT Nerds who keep our functional society barely 24 hours on the Apocalypse.

The fact is that the application of settings and its content is simply too rationalized to be useful for this class of Windows user. The parameters do a good job of limiting things to the most important and most relevant switched flip -flops for most people, but it is not quite clear how you completely reproduce the functionality of the control panel in this way.

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Too many things still live there

The control panel is always the only way to reach the guts of the system. Some tools have simply been forgotten in the migration process – or Microsoft did not understand how to move them safely without breaking things.

Try to manage the restoration points of the system, define environmental variables, adjust advanced sound settings or play with com ports. In many cases, there is no modern equivalent.

Until each last function is postponed (if this occurs), the control panel remains essential by default.

Migration moves to Microsoft Speed

The control panel is “leaving” since Windows 8 made its debut in 2012. More than a decade later, we are still in the middle of this transition. Microsoft has made progress – all the common parameters have leap, but at this rate could take another decade to finish work.

Why lack of speed? As I said earlier, compatibility behind is important, because some developers or workflows count on a specific framework being a specific location in the control panel. In addition to this, thousands of people divided into dozens of teams work on various Windows parts in Microsoft. In the best of cases, I imagine it must be like breeding cats, and if you don’t want to break things, you have to move slowly and make sure everyone is on board.

From this point of view, it is logical to make your changes little by little. However, personally, I think they should have just observed the control panel and call it “parameters”. Wait, is that what they did?

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If it is not broken (but it’s a bit)

Why is the control panel a problem in the first place? Personally, I started using Windows with version 3.1, and even as a novice, it never really disturbed me. It’s fast, it works, and that really cares if it does not quite correspond to the shiny exterior of modern windows? It is not something with which you should interact frequently, and no one expects things under the hood to be as pretty as bodywork.

Operating system

MacOS Sequoia

Processor

M4 Pro 12-Core

This M4 Pro MacBook Pro “Binned” with a 14 -inch screen is one of the best to come from Apple factories. It is not the cheapest laptop of the M4 MacBook Pro family, but it is by far the best value for money. This is the last laptop that most people will have to buy for many years.

I appreciate that it is a bit of a horror, and part of the functionality must possibly be obsolete, but that does not happen on the schedules of ordinary people like you and me. Personally, I don’t think the control panel goes anywhere. In fact, I have the feeling that he will live exactly as long as Windows himself, as long or short it can be.