Newsletter Archives

• Making sense of Settings in Windows 11

  Posted on March 31, 2025 at 02:42 CDT by Simon Bisson • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Simon Bisson

  Settings is surely here to stay, but so are all Windows’ other settings tools.

  Each new build of Windows 11 moves more functionality into Settings. It’s a slow process, and one I’m sure most of us would like to be faster.

  When you consider the amount of legacy code in Windows and the ongoing need to ensure as much backward compatibility as possible, however, those delays make more sense. Changes are more seamless for users in the Insider Program, with new updates coming with every build.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.13.0, 2025-03-31).

  Windows 11 Control Panel, Newsletters, Settings, Windows 11 Settings

• Classic and Extended Control Panel — no need to say goodbye

  Posted on March 24, 2025 at 02:45 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.12 • 2025-03-24

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  Microsoft is migrating applets out of the Windows 11 Control Panel and into the fancy Settings app in Windows 11, but not all of us are ready to give it up just yet.

  Whether Control Panel is retired quickly or slowly, its days are numbered.

  Peter Panisz created a program for Windows 10 and Windows 11 called Classic and Extended Control Panel, and it is just great. It retains the simple layout and feel of Windows Control Panel, launches the traditions applets, and does so much more.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.12.0, 2025-03-24).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Freeware Spotlight Classic and Extended Control Panel, Control Panel, Newsletters, TranslucentTB

• Windows Settings today

  Posted on March 17, 2025 at 02:43 CDT by Simon Bisson • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Simon Bisson

  Windows Settings today is a mix of old and new.

  Windows settings applications across the years, from DOS to Windows 11, comprise a history of what were, at the time, logical decisions about how to manage and group settings, opening them up to third parties, and then freezing them as part of Microsoft’s commitment to backward compatibility.

  We’re now in a position where we have not one, not two, not three, but four different settings applications, each with different user interfaces.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.11.0, 2025-03-17).

  Windows 11 Advanced Settings, Command Line, Control Panel, Newsletters, Remote Assistance, Remote Desktop, System Center, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Management Interface, Windows Settings

• A brief history of Windows Settings

  Posted on March 10, 2025 at 02:45 CDT by Simon Bisson • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.10 • 2025-03-10

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Simon Bisson

  The real story about the Windows Control Panel is a long and winding road that goes all the way back to DOS.

  Windows has always had a way of managing its settings. Right from its first version, it had a control panel that let you configure your installation. Today, it’s a collection of tools that have evolved considerably over the years from that first control panel, going from a simple applet with a handful of functions to today’s one-stop Settings shop for configuring everything Windows.

  That evolution has taken us through multiple designs and redesigns, from icon-based tools with buttons and sliders, to today’s text-first Web-like interface. It hasn’t been a smooth journey either, with Microsoft’s commitment to backward compatibility leaving you switching across different generations of Windows as you drill further down into settings dialogs.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.10.0, 2025-03-10).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, Control Panel, CPL, Microsoft Management Console, MMC, Newsletters, Windows, Windows 1.0, Windows 10, Windows 10X, Windows 11, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.11, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows XP

• Control Panel and consoles in Windows 11

  Posted on June 3, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.23 • 2024-06-03

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Ed Tittel

  Control Panel element counts are shrinking, but they remain surprisingly active and entangled in Windows controls, configuration, and management.

  Although more than a decade has passed since Microsoft began migrating functionality from Control Panel into Settings, Control Panel elements remain alive and active in Windows 11. Windows consoles are also still important, and likely to remain so, as a new AI-enabled release of Windows 11 is anticipated later this year.

  But the landscape between Settings and Control Panel shifts constantly.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.23.0, 2024-06-03).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 Control Panel, God Mode, Microsoft Consoles, Newsletters, Settings

• Settings

  Posted on May 6, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Ed Tittel

  The Settings app in Windows 11 remains endlessly under development, with the transition from Control Panel and Microsoft Management consoles far from complete.

  With the introduction of Windows 8, Microsoft began a slow and deliberate changeover in how setup, configuration, and related settings are handled. In this first of a series of stories about the Settings app and Control Panel, we’ll take a long, hard look at Settings and describe where Control Panel still appears under the Settings umbrella.

  Surprisingly, I must give Microsoft due credit. In a close examination of Control Panel holdovers that appear occasionally under the Settings umbrella, the number of such occurrences is substantially lower than I believed when I began this investigation.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.19.0, 2024-05-06).

  Windows 11 Control Panel, Microsoft Consoles, Newsletters, Settings, Windows 11

• How to preserve your battery charge on a Windows 11 laptop

  Posted on April 15, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.16 • 2024-04-15

  Look for our BONUS issue on Monday, April 22!

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Lance Whitney

  Frustrated because your Windows laptop runs out of juice at the worst possible times? There are ways to better sustain your battery charge.

  One of the best laptops I ever owned was a Lenovo ThinkPad T460 back in 2016. One major reason why I liked this machine was its dual-battery setup. Packed with both an internal battery and an external swappable battery, this unit easily delivered a solid 12 hours of life on a single charge.

  Sadly, those days are gone. With Lenovo and most other laptop makers obsessed with making machines as thin and light as possible, battery life has suffered dramatically. With my current laptop, I’m lucky to get five hours of life on a single charge. That’s fine if I’m at home or in a place where I can plug the computer into AC. But if I’m in one spot for hours, with no handy electrical outlet, then my battery charge can easily run out.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.16.0, 2024-04-15).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 Battery charging, Battery life, Battery management, Control Panel, Newsletters, Power, Windows 11

• Freeware Spotlight — ControlUWP

  Posted on September 27, 2020 at 21:00 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  BEST UTILITIES

  By Deanna McElveen

  Microsoft is slowly moving tools and controls out of Windows 10’s classic Control Panel and placing them (somewhere) in the Settings menus.

  Eventually, Control Panel will probably disappear altogether. When that will happen even Microsoft probably doesn’t know. Control Panel was never perfect, but in my humble opinion, it’s still far better than the maze that is Win10 Settings.

  So, you can imagine how excited I was to find a Settings alternative that’s more like Control Panel. Builtbybel (formerly Mirinsoft) has recently released ControlUWP for Windows 10. The app checks off all our boxes: it’s free, it has no junkware, it’s portable — and it’s awesome!

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.38.0 (2020-09-28).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Best Utilities AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Control Panel, Windows 10 Settings