HOW TO Secrets of the Control Panel

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FINDING THE CONTROL PANEL Microsoft would prefer you use Settings, so the Control Panel is a little buried in the Start menu. You can find it by clicking Start, and scrolling down to the Windows System folder. To save all of the scrolling, you can also just click the Start button and start to type “control panel” to perform a search for it – you just need to click the link that appears at the top of list of results.

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SEARCH FOR SETTINGS There are a huge number of options in the Control Panel, and it can be difficult to remember where you should look for something – this is where the search function comes in. The Control Panel functions much like a folder within Explorer, so you can search using the search box to the upper right-hand corner of the window and easily home in on something.

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SECRET SEARCH OPTION Searching can help discover settings you had never heard of. Try typing the letter “e” into the search box – because the vast majority, if not all, settings names include the letter ‘e’ – and press Enter. You’ll be presented with a massive list of settings grouped together into categories. You just need to click one to jump straight to that Control Panel applet.

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SECRET GAME CONTROLLER APPLET If you are a gamer, you might be surprised to learn that there is a hidden Game Controllers applet. Press Win-R to activate the Run dialog, and type “joy.cpl” and Enter. Select your controller from the list and click Properties. On the Test tab you can check that all of the buttons work, while on the Settings tab you can access the calibration wizard.

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ACCESS ‘GOD MODE’ There is a hidden mode for the Control Panel that has become known as “god mode”. All it takes is the creation of a specially named folder. Right-click on the desktop and select New > Folder before naming it GodMode. {ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} – you can replace “GodMode” with anything you like, as this is just the name of the folder.

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OTHER HIDDEN CONTROL PANEL SHORTCUTS Try creating these folders: Application Connections.{241D7C96F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}; Default Programs. {17cd9488-1228-4b2f-88ce-4298e93e0966}; Firewall and Security {4026492F-2F69-46B8-B9BF-5654FC07E423}; Icons And Notifications.{05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}; Programs and Features.{15eae92e-f17a-4431-9f28805e482dafd4}.

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BOOST SYSTEM PERFORMANCE You can boost the performance of your computer by disabling unnecessary animations and effects. Open System in Control Panel and click Advanced system settings to the left. On the Advanced tab, click the first Settings buttons under the Performance heading then select the Adjust for best performance option – or you can manually specify what should be disabled.

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ADD CONTROL PANEL TO FILE EXPLORER You can add a Control Panel link to This PC via the

Registry Editor. Press Win-R, type “regedit”, press Enter and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\ NameSpace. Create a new key called {21EC2020-3AEA-1069A2DD-08002B30309D}.

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CUSTOMISE DESKTOP ICONS A slightly hidden Control Panel applet lets you choose which icons appear on your desktop, including adding a Control Panel shortcut. Right click the desktop and select Personalise before moving to the

Themes section. Click the Desktop icon settings link on the right, hen use the tick boxes to choose which icons – This PC, Recycle Bin, etc – should be displayed.

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HELPFUL SHORTCUTS (AND SCREENSAVERS!) If you use some Control Panel applets frequently, you can create shortcuts to jump straight to them. Right click on an applet and select Pin to Start to add it to the Start menu, or Create shortcut to add it to the desktop instead. You can also access a hidden screensaver applet by creating a desktop shortcut that points to “rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl,,1”