this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024
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Last week, Microsoft mentioned in a support document that it was formally deprecating Windows' 39-year-old Control Panel applets. But following widespread reporting of the change, Microsoft has either backtracked or clarified its language to remove the note about Control Panel being deprecated in favor of the Settings app. Here's what the original post said, as also preserved by the Internet Wayback Machine (emphasis ours):

"The Control Panel is a feature that's been part of Windows for a long time. It provides a centralized location to view and manipulate system settings and controls," the support page explains. "Through a series of applets, you can adjust various options ranging from system time and date to hardware settings, network configurations, and more. The Control Panel is in the process of being deprecated in favor of the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience."

The current version of the page has changed that last sentence considerably. It now says that "many of the settings in Control Panel are in the process of being migrated to the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience."

It's not clear whether this reflects a policy change or just a clarification of language. We've asked Microsoft whether it has changed plans to deprecate the Control Pane or if the original version of the support page was just incorrect in the first place, and we'll update if we receive a response.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Doesn't matter if they walked it back. I'm now playing my games on Linux.

And wow it is just working.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

The biggest offenders for me are: are:

  • I struggle to navigate and make out alle the controls of the settings app. Somehow finding the settings visually is very difficult.
  • The new settings app is single instance. The control panel had lots of popup windows and you could open it multiple times which allowed parallel open settings windows.
[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If they just move the functionality of control panel to settings, I fail to see why this is such an issue.

The only way this'd be a big deal is if they removed control panel without moving those functions to the settings app. Then it'd be annoying at least. Is that the case here?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

Barely any of the functions actually moved, I'd rather the control panel stay just in case regardless, because i still find old fixes to problems i have on old forums and such.

Which is also why my system language is set to english, so everything on the control panel will have a searchable name instead of a half assed translation that I'll have to translate back.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago

Watch, you'll have to sign up for a copilot service to access the control panel in the future.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What was wrong with the Control Panel?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Gives the user far too much control of their machine and you can accomplish a task far to easily.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

That makes sense.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Not enough tracking, code is too old to add ads.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Oh god, I'm picturing ads for wireless routers in the network settings.

"The keyboard settings are brought to you by Logitech! Work. Play. Communicate." *video ad plays with no ability to pause or change volume*

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Font isn’t large enough. Not enough white space.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Why not just enable both? Have the control panel be available but more of a power user kind of thing, where the new Settings page is what gets pushed to the average user. Of course it's more work to maintain both but last time I checked MS were doing alright for themselves and could probably afford it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Because Windows has some of the worst UI design in this quadrant.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Windows 11 core design is actually really nice. It’s just the ads and AI BS that make it suck.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I’ve got a house to sell you with a decent foundation, just don’t mind the permanent graffiti all over it.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

"Streamlined"

What a fucking load of steaming bullshit. The Settings app is complete dogshit compared to Control Panel. If I want to click through 6 pages of nested settings pages for Networking, or 1 screen of all the settings in one place, I think I know which one I would call "streamlined".

Jackasses.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Funny thing is I remember control panel being criticized for having things too many dialogs deep. Now you have more clicks when using settings instead of less.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Also it's just broken. Try to add an IP without gateway and it won't let you.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago

The new settings page isn't as good as control panel.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The updated language is what they’ve been saying since a couple years after Windows 10 came out. This story just went back to not being news lol

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I mean it was hardly news to begin with.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I don't even use Windows anymore and I cringe at the thought of being forced to use the Settings app over Control Panel.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

As an occasional windows user I was trying to come up with a counter-example for you but I couldn’t think of one lol.

Edit: oh it’s cool that it supports night/dark mode!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I found it easier to search for settings that are supported by it. It tends to catch things even if the wording you use isn't the exact name of the setting. The Windows search to bring up the control panel options from before they implemented the Settings app search has never really been reliable unless you recall what it's actually called.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Agreed. The new settings window is a vast improvement over the classic control panel. It’s about the only place search is good in Windows and that’s probably why I prefer it when many don’t. 🤷🏼‍♂️

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