News Microsoft to kill Windows Control Panel in favor of Settings app

[bigdragon]

I actually use Control Panel a lot during initial setup on a new install. I will be sad to see it go. I am sure they are doing this to make it just that little bit harder to delete things you don't want.

Same. I do a lot of digital art and sculpting so I always have a relatively modern tablet PC as one of my owned computers. There are settings in the Control Panel regarding Pen and Touch input that aren't available or exposed through the settings app. Disabling the delays and hold to right click with stylus are critical things I always set to improve my drawing and sculpting experience. Delays and lag are disruptive. I don't recall those settings being part of the settings app. Removing the Control Panel without migrating those settings would be a serious regression in Windows functionality.

 

[stuff and nonesense]

Removing the Control Panel without migrating those settings would be a serious regression in Windows functionality.

Removing the control panel is a serious regression in Windows functionality.

 

[RodroX]

"The Control Panel is in the process of being deprecated in favor of the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience," a statement by Microsoft on its support website reads.

lol, I just lol.

The app settings is missing a lot of functionality. So I have my doubts they will make it better. Im not so sure a new "patch" can add and fix what have been broken and missing from that app since its conecption many, many years ago.

 

[67Matt99]

So Microsoft is finally going to merge the remaining features into Settings? Right?

Merge yes but as to if it will be 'Right' will have to wait and see.

 

[jlake3]

It's already been said by seemingly everyone, but we're 10 years into the transition away from 'Control Panel' and the replacement 'Settings App' still doesn't have all the functions the Control Panel does, many options are nested deeper, many options have been moved to unintuitive locations ("Devices" has a picture of a speaker, but does not contain sound settings?!), information density is significantly lower, and some of the functions you can access through the settings app actually fall back on just launching the old control panel.

I wouldn't mind Control Panel going away if you could do everything you needed inside the Settings App in a quick and intuitive way, but I'm not optimistic that's coming.

 

[t3t4]

Sounds to me like the end of Windows.

They cannot cripple it anymore then they already have, win11 is currently unusable! Once 10 is gone, I think so am I.

 

[FoxTread3]

I've been using the God Mode for a while. All Windows settings alphabetically categorized in one folder.

If you don't have it, here's how to get it:
1. right click on the desktop and select "new folder".
2. rename folder to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

That's it.

There's around 200 settings in the folder to use. Also, if you click "view" in the folder and then "tiles", the icons will show up similar to the way they are in the Control Panel.

August 24, 2024 - Thank you. Your info is much appreciated, and I filed it away for future use. "around 200 settings"... OMG😮 That much "granularity" could get me into a lot of trouble. 😁 Stay well Sir.

 

[FoxTread3]

Microsoft has been saying they're going to kill the control panel for 14 years.

The problem, is that in 14 years they still haven't been able to figure out how to make a feature-complete settings app, for some reason.
The bigger problem is that they're probably going to kill off control panel without having any idea how to actually incorporate basic things like "all of the sounds settings" or "advanced monitor settings" into their dated, ugly, bloated, Windows 8 Metro touchscreen era settings app.
If they gave up on their current settings app and just made an efficient, complete, and modern menu, then nobody would care. But they haven't. Realistically the only way they'll ever be able to put a decent settings menu together is to first fire literally every manager at Microsoft who approved the design of the Windows 11 GUI. That's not going to happen. So even if the current team tried to frankenstein together a "new" settings app, it would just be a reskin of the old core with clipped corners, frustratingly slow animations, multiple confusing ipad-style pages of pointlessly giant icons replacing what could be a short and easy to read list... and ads. So many ads for one drive, and one note, and whatever other useless upsell crap they're currently burning into into every other aspect of their OS.

So when they do finally make the donkey brained decision to just delete the control panel without putting in the work to finish replacing it, we'll suddenly find there's no way to calibrate your monitor, disable sound devices, or make the "My computer" icon appear on the desktop. Then what are we going to do?
It will probably take a long time to find out, because above all else, the leadership in charge of Windows 11 are not just lazy, they're extremely proud of how lazy they are.

August 24, 2024 - I agree with everything you've said. Microsoft reminds me of a person who is just so set in their ways, that they will never change. I do understand that they are carrying a lot of baggage because of the need to keep everything working across so many versions of Windows. Unlike some companies that publish something new, throw out the old stuff, forcing their customers to adjust however they can. Stay well.😊

 

[FoxTread3]

Microsoft confirms transition from Control Panel to Settings app.

Microsoft to kill Windows Control Panel in favor of Settings app : Read more

August 24, 2024 - Once again I feel like engineers are changing things to justify their employment. There may be a necessary reason, or reasons to eventually get rid of Control Panel. However, I haven't seen Tech experts here, or on the internet demanding a change. As a long time Microsoft/Windows suffer, I have lived with them changing things that in my opinion didn't need to be changed as they released new versions of the OS. Aside from justifying their employment, it has been said over the decades that Tech engineers don't think like their company's customers. What seems like a good idea, and may work for them. Doesn't necessarily mean that the knowledgeable users and the average person agrees with them. If it's broken... fix it. Otherwise I wish they would just leave things that work alone.

 

[67Matt99]

I've been using the God Mode for a while. All Windows settings alphabetically categorized in one folder.

If you don't have it, here's how to get it:
1. right click on the desktop and select "new folder".
2. rename folder to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

That's it.

There's around 200 settings in the folder to use. Also, if you click "view" in the folder and then "tiles", the icons will show up similar to the way they are in the Control Panel.

I like it, but how do I give/assign it a Desktop ID image?

 

[67Matt99]

Sounds to me like the end of Windows.

They cannot cripple it anymore then they already have, win11 is currently unusable! Once 10 is gone, I think so am I.

Am I to understand that Win 11 is still not ready for 'Prime-Time'?
Or are they (M$) just taking away more functionality away from the user?

 

[USAFRet]

Am I to understand that Win 11 is still not ready for 'Prime-Time'?
Or are they (M$) just taking away more functionality away from the user?

No, they're just putting clicky things in different places.

Every OS, every application, has done this forever.

 

[67Matt99]

No, they're just putting clicky things in different places.

Every OS, every application, has done this forever.

Agree.........the more things change, the more they remain the same.
I think it's called "Creative Marketing".

 

[DragonStFlaxIII]

There's no way they can do this based on the current versions. When working with printers, sometimes the Settings display won't show everything, and I have to revert to Control Panel.

This is the most frustrating thing about Windows. They create these half-baked new interfaces that aren't complete, and make us go to multiple places depending on the task. Searching doesn't always get to both options.

I agree with others that navigating the Settings is frustrating since I often close out or lose my window in the middle of navigating options. That greyed out "back" button doesn't look like a button, so I never think to hit it to go back. I instinctively close the window and have to start over.

However, I'm grateful for this confusion because it gives job security.