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Microsoft wants to replace the Control Panel with the Settings app, but this is a plan the tech giant has had since the early 2010s and the ‘when’ is still uncertain.
After nearly 40 years of service for Windows users around the world, the Control Panel feature is being taken out to pasture in favour of more modern alternatives.
The Control panel feature has been around since the beginning, being available in the Windows 1.0 release in 1985. It serves as a central point to access information about your device such as installed programs, connected devices, system specifications and much more.
By using connected tools that Microsoft calls “applets”, Windows users can also adjust various settings on their PC from this Control Panel, such as the date, time and network configurations.
But in a support page on the Microsoft website, the tech giant has confirmed that it plans to sunset this tool in favour of the Settings app, which provides a “more modern and streamlined experience”.
“While the Control Panel still exists for compatibility reasons and to provide access to some settings that have not yet migrated, you’re encouraged to use the Settings app, whenever possible,” Microsoft says on the support page.
Microsoft says the Settings app is designed with ease of use in mind, to provide a more “intuitive and user-friendly experience” than the Control Panel.
For real this time?
But this is not the first time Microsoft has revealed plans to move away from the old Control Panel – rumours have been around since the early 2010s that this feature would be phased out.
A leaked screenshot of the Windows 8 layout in 2011 showed a “PC Settings” tab that looked to be a replacement for the Control Panel. In 2015, a Microsoft senior program manager Brandon LeBlanc said on social media that “Settings will eventually supersede Control Panel”.
Microsoft has not given a timeframe for when it will be removed for good. This isn’t unusual for the tech giant – it has been slow to remove other features despite a desire to replace them, such as Paint 3D.
Last year, Microsoft revealed plans to sunset its virtual assistant service Cortana after its stopped its support for the app on Windows, as it focused more on generative AI tools.
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