Control Panel is certainly a useful and important
piece of the Windows 7 package. It’s even more useful if you can get to
it easily. In this section, I show you a few methods for gaining quick
access to individual icons and the entire folder.
Alternative Methods for Opening Control Panel Icons
Access
to many Control Panel icons is scattered throughout the Windows 7
interface, meaning that there’s more than one way to launch an icon.
Many of these alternative methods are faster and more direct than using
the Control Panel folder. Here’s a summary:
Action Center— Click (or right-click) the Action Center icon in the notification area and then click Open Action Center.
Administrative Tools— You can display these tools as a menu on the main Start menu.
Date and Time— Right-click the clock in the notification area and then click Adjust Date/Time.
Desktop Gadgets— Click Start, All Programs, Desktop Gadget Gallery.
Devices and Printers— Click Start, Devices and Printers.
Personalization— Right-click the desktop and then click Personalize.
Folder Options— In Windows Explorer, select Organize, Folder and Search Options.
Fonts— In Windows Explorer, open the %SystemRoot%\Fonts folder.
Internet Options— In Internet Explorer, select Tools, Internet Options.
Network and Sharing Center— Click (or right-click) the Network icon in the notification area and then click Open Network and Sharing Center.
Notification Area Icons— Right-click an empty section of the notification area and then click Custom Notification Area.
Power Options— Click the Power icon in the notification area and then click More Power Options.
Default Programs— Select Start, Default Programs.
Sound— Right-click the Volume icon in the notification area and then click Sounds.
System— Click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Properties.
Taskbar and Start Menu— Right-click the Start button or an empty section of the taskbar, and then click Properties.
Troubleshooting— Right-click the Action Center icon in the notification area and then click Troubleshoot a Problem.
Windows Update—
Click Start, All Programs, Windows Update, or right-click the Action
Center icon in the notification area and then click Open Windows Update.
Another
relatively easy way to get at a Control Panel icon is to use the
powerful Windows 7 search engine, which indexes the Control Panel.
Select Start, type some or all of the Control Panel icon name, and then
click the icon that appears in the Control Panel section of the search
results. For example, in Figure 1, I typed clear in the Search box, and you can see that ClearType Text Tuner shows up at the top of the results.
Putting Control Panel on the Start Menu
You can turn the Start menu’s Control Panel command into a menu that displays the Control Panel icons by following these steps:
1. | Right-click
the Start button and then click Properties. The Taskbar and Start Menu
Properties dialog box appears with the Start Menu tab displayed.
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2. | Click Customize. The Customize Start Menu dialog box appears.
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3. | In the list of Start menu items, find the Control Panel item and activate the Display as a Menu option.
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4. | Click OK.
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Figure 2
shows the Start menu with the Control Panel item configured as a menu.
Depending on the screen resolution you are using, not all the Control
Panel icons might fit on the screen. In that case, hover the mouse
pointer over the downward-pointing arrow at the bottom of the menu to
scroll through the rest of the icons. (To scroll up, hover the pointer
over the upward-pointing arrow that appears at the top of the menu.)
Click the arrow to scroll the menu
