Information about Control Panel (windows)
Control Panel in Windows Vista

Control Panel in Windows XP
Classic View of the Control Panel in Windows XP
Default View of the Control Panel in Windows Me
Control Panel is a part of the Microsoft Windows graphical user interface which allows users to view and manipulate basic system settings and controls, such as adding hardware, adding and removing software, controlling user accounts, and changing accessibility options. Additional applets can be provided by third party software.
The Control Panel has been an inherent part of the Microsoft Windows operating system since its first release (Windows 1.0), with many of the current applets being added in later versions. Beginning with Windows 95, the Control Panel is implemented as a special folder, i.e. the folder does not physically exist, but only contains shortcuts to various applets such as Add or Remove Programs and Internet Options. Physically, these applets are stored as .CPL files. For example, the Add or Remove Programs applet is stored under the name appwiz.cpl in the system32 folder.
In recent versions of Windows, the Control Panel has two views, Classic View and Category View, and it is possible to switch between these through an option that appears on the left side of the window.
Many of the individual Control Panel applets can be accessed in other ways. For instance, Display Properties can be accessed by right-clicking on an empty area of the desktop and choosing Properties.
Technical Details
The folder's view can be forced to display a Classic or Category view using the following RegKey- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explore\ForceClassicControlPanel
Other windows folders can assume the role of the Control Panel[1] if named:
- Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
See also
References
Microsoft Windows
Screenshot of Windows Vista Ultimate, the latest version of Microsoft Windows.
Company/developer: Microsoft Corporation
OS family: MS-DOS/9x-based, Windows CE, Windows NT
Source model: Closed source
..... Click the link for more information.
Screenshot of Windows Vista Ultimate, the latest version of Microsoft Windows.
Company/developer: Microsoft Corporation
OS family: MS-DOS/9x-based, Windows CE, Windows NT
Source model: Closed source
..... Click the link for more information.
graphical user interface (GUI) is a type of user interface which allows people to interact with a computer and computer-controlled devices which employ graphical icons, visual indicators or special graphical elements called "widgets", along with text, labels or text
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Hardware is a general term that refers to the physical artifacts of a technology.It may also mean the physical components of a computer system.
Hardware historically meant the metal parts and fittings that were used to make wooden products stronger, more functional, longer
..... Click the link for more information.
Hardware historically meant the metal parts and fittings that were used to make wooden products stronger, more functional, longer
..... Click the link for more information.
Computer software is a general term used to describe a collection of computer programs, procedures and documentation that perform some task on a computer system. [1]
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
User in a computing context refers to one who uses a computer system. Users may need to identify themselves for the purposes of accounting, security, logging and resource management.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a system is usable by as many people as possible. In other words, it is the degree of ease with which it is possible to reach a certain location from other locations.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Windows 95
(Part of the Microsoft Windows family)
Screenshot
Screenshot of Windows 95
Developer
Microsoft
Release information
Release date: August 24 1995 [
..... Click the link for more information.
(Part of the Microsoft Windows family)
Screenshot
Screenshot of Windows 95
Developer
Microsoft
Release information
Release date: August 24 1995 [
..... Click the link for more information.
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, Special Folders are folders which are presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept, instead of an absolute folder path.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Computer shortcuts are small files containing only the location of another file, and sometimes specific parameters to be passed to it when run. They are commonly placed on the desktop, start menu, and taskbar of various operating systems, and may only work from the GUI and not from
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
The following is a list of Microsoft Windows components.
Component Description Introduced
Control Panel
Control Panel Allows users to view and manipulate basic system settings and controls, such as adding hardware, adding and
..... Click the link for more information.
Configuration and maintenance
Component Description Introduced
Control Panel
Control Panel Allows users to view and manipulate basic system settings and controls, such as adding hardware, adding and
..... Click the link for more information.
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Control Panel\Cpls
This contains the string format locations of all .cpl files in the hard drive used within the control panel.
..... Click the link for more information.
This contains the string format locations of all .cpl files in the hard drive used within the control panel.
..... Click the link for more information.
The following is a list of Microsoft Windows components.
Component Description Introduced
Control Panel
Control Panel Allows users to view and manipulate basic system settings and controls, such as adding hardware, adding and
..... Click the link for more information.
Configuration and maintenance
Component Description Introduced
Control Panel
Control Panel Allows users to view and manipulate basic system settings and controls, such as adding hardware, adding and
..... Click the link for more information.
Windows Aero is the graphical user interface for Windows Vista, an operating system released by Microsoft in November 2006. Its name is an acronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Desktop Window Manager (DWM, previously Desktop Compositing Engine or DCE) is a compositing window manager, introduced with Windows Vista, that enables the Windows Aero user interface. DWM requires graphics cards supporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 2.0.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Windows Explorer is an application that is part of modern versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system that runs on top of the Windows operating system and provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file systems, though is not integral to the running of a Windows
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
In computing, the taskbar is a term for the application desktop bar which is used to launch and monitor applications in Microsoft Windows 95 and later versions (actually it's part of the Windows shell, see desktop shell replacement).
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Start Menu and Start Button are user interface elements in the Microsoft Windows product line, which serve as the central launching point for applications.
Traditionally, the Start Menu
..... Click the link for more information.
Traditionally, the Start Menu
..... Click the link for more information.
In computing, Windows Shell is the most visible aspect of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. The shell is the container inside of which the entire user interface is presented, including the Task bar, the Desktop, Windows Explorer, as well as many of the dialog boxes
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Windows Shell namespace is the system of organization that Windows Explorer uses to present the file system and other objects to the user. Objects inside the Shell namespace can be real file system files and folders, as well as virtual objects like My Network Places and the
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
On Microsoft Windows operating systems, Special Folders are folders which are presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept, instead of an absolute folder path.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
graphics device interface is a subsystem that most operating systems use for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is a security feature included in modern Microsoft Windows operating systems that is intended to prevent an application or service from executing code from a non-executable memory region.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
BitLocker Drive Encryption is a full disk encryption feature included with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
.NET Framework is a software component that can be added to or is included with Microsoft Windows operating system. It provides a large body of pre-coded solutions to common program requirements, and manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework. The .
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Windows Mail is an e-mail and newsgroup client included exclusively in Windows Vista. It is the successor to Outlook Express. Microsoft previewed Windows Mail on Channel 9 on October 10 2005.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Windows Contacts is a contact manager, which replaced Windows Address Book (WAB) in Windows Vista. Windows Mail integrates with Windows Contacts. Windows Contacts uses a new XML-based schema format where each contact appears as an individual .
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Windows Calendar is a calendar application that is included in Windows Vista. It natively supports the iCalendar file format, and has the ability to publish and subscribe to web-based calendars by using HTTP and WebDAV. Calendars may also be published to network drive shares.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Windows Fax and Scan (WFS) is an integrated faxing and scanning application included in the Windows Vista operating system. This application is only available with Vista Business, Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate[1].
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
Windows Meeting Space (codenamed Windows Collaboration) is the name of a peer-to-peer collaboration program in Windows Vista which lets 2-10 users start sessions with other users for collaboration.
..... Click the link for more information.
..... Click the link for more information.
This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus