The Windows Control Panel is a graphical user interface that allows users to access, configure and customize their computers. It provides quick access to system settings and various options related to hardware, software, internet, and privacy.
1. System: In the System section, you can adjust motherboard and system hardware settings, view system hardware, access device manager, check file integrity, configure user accounts and passwords, configure remote settings, and activate Parental Controls. You can also access the Power Options, which allow you to adjust your computer’s power settings.
2. Network & Internet: Available in this section are network-specific options such as setting up a new connection or an existing connection, configuring proxy settings, setting up Windows Firewall, viewing active connections, and configuring advanced options related to IP addresses and ports.
3. Hardware & Sound: In this section, you can add or remove hardware devices, adjust sound settings, configure display settings, access the Printing options, and establish the Pen and Touch options.
4. Programs: This section contains options for installing and uninstalling programs and checking for program updates. It also includes the default browser, mail, media players, and other applications.
5. User Accounts: In this section, you can add new user accounts, edit existing user accounts, change account types, change picture for user accounts, and reset forgotten passwords. You can also configure parental control and synchronization settings for multiple devices.
6. Appearance & Personalization: Here, you can customize the look of your desktop, taskbar, window color, desktop background, and screen saver. You can also change the size and orientation of your fonts, the size of the scroll bars, the windows color scheme, the screen resolution, and the mouse settings.
7. Clock, Language & Region: This section allows you to configure the date, time, time zone, language and location settings. You can also set the currency format and configure the measurements used.
8. Ease of Access: This is a great feature that enables users to adjust accessibility options for their computer, such as enabling high contrast mode, making the text or items on the screen easier to read, setting up a narrator to read aloud, and enabling Sticky Keys, Filter Keys and Toggle Keys.
9. Security & Maintenance: In the Security & Maintenance section, you can view the status of your security settings, configure Windows Update, configure Windows Defender, optimize your hard drive, and back up files. You can also access the Troubleshooting option to fix common problems.
10. System icons: There are many system icons available on the Windows Control Panel, including Network, Volume, Clock, Power, Notifications, Battery, Time Zone, Date and Time, Recycle Bin, Action Center, Security and Maintenance, and User Account.