Microsoft takes another step towards killing off the Control Panel in Windows 10
Since the days of Windows 8, operating system settings have been split across the traditional Control Panel and the newer Settings. Over time, Microsoft has gradually tried to encourage people away from the Control Panel, burying it deeper and deeper in Windows.
Now the company has taken yet another step that signals the end of the line for the Control Panel you've come to know and love. In the latest builds of Windows 10, the System applet has been rendered all but redundant.
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The latest Insider build of Windows 10 -- preview build 20161 -- not only introduced a redesigned Start menu, but also another nail in the coffin of the Control Panel. Over the last few years, Microsoft has been working to migrate as many of the tools, options and settings found in the traditional Control Panel into Settings. The latest change sees the System applet being replaced by a redirect to information in Setting.
In a blog post about Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 20161, the senior program manager for the Windows Insider program, Brandon LeBlanc, explains
We're continuing to work on bringing capabilities from Control Panel forward into Settings. As part of this ongoing effort, we are migrating information found in Control Panel's System page into the Settings About page under Settings > System > About. Links that would open the System page in Control Panel will now direct you to About in Settings. We are also bringing new improvements like making your device information copyable and streamlining the security information shown. And don't worry -- if you're looking for more advanced controls that lived in the System page in Control Panel, you can still get to them from the modern About page if you need them!
The change makes sense because Microsoft has long had the difficult task of maintaining settings in two places. While it is sensible to move everything into one place, the transition is taking many years, and lots of users will be sad to see the Control Panel either killed off or made redundant.
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