2. Navigating and Customizing the Control Panel
Clicking the taskbar’s Start button and then clicking
Control Panel displays the Control Panel. You can also display the
Control Panel in any Windows Explorer view by clicking the leftmost
option button on the Address bar and selecting Control Panel. As with
Windows XP, the Control Panel in Windows 7 has two views:
Category Control Panel view, shown in Figure 1, is the default view
and provides access to system utilities by category, utility, and
key tasks. Category Control Panel view is also referred to as
Control Panel. To access this view, select Category on the View By
list.
The All Control Panel Items view, shown in Figure 2, is an
alternative view that provides access to all items in the Control
Panel. Each Control Panel utility is listed separately by name. To
access this view, select Large Icons or Small Icons on the View By list.
Because the Category Control Panel view provides quick access to
frequent tasks, it is the view you will use most often. With this view,
the Control Panel opens as a console on which eight categories of
utilities are listed. For each category, there’s a top-level link and
under this are several of the most frequently performed tasks for the
category.
Clicking a category link provides a list of utilities in that
category. For each utility listed within a category, there’s a link to
open the utility, and under this are several of the most frequently
performed tasks for the utility. Table 1 lists the category
associated with specific items; you can quickly find Control Panel items
by referring to this table.
Table 1. Control Panel items by category
| Category | Items found under this
category |
|---|
| Appearance and
Personalization | Desktop Gadgets, Display,
Ease of Access Center, Folder Options, Fonts, Personalization,
Taskbar and Start Menu |
| Clock, Language, and
Region | Date and Time, Region and
Language |
| Ease of
Access | Ease of Access Center,
Speech Recognition |
| Hardware and
Sound | AutoPlay, Devices and
Printers, Display, Power Options, Sound |
| Network and
Internet | Homegroup, Internet
Options, Network and Sharing Center |
| Programs | Default Programs, Desktop
Gadgets, Programs and Features |
| System and
Security | Action Center,
Administrative Tools, Backup and Restore, BitLocker Drive
Encryption, Power Options, System, Windows Firewall, Windows
Update |
| User Accounts and Family
Safety | Credential Manager,
Parental Controls, User Accounts, Windows
CardSpace |
In Category Control Panel view, all utilities and tasks run with a
single click. The left pane of the console has a link to take you to the
Control Panel home page, links for each category, and links for recently
performed tasks. Not only is this very efficient, but it’s also very
easy to use.
Because menu options and Control Panel options open with a single
click by default, you might want to configure your computer to use
single-click to open items such as documents as well. This may help you
avoid confusion as to whether you need to click or double-click. When
you have single-click open configured, pointing to an item selects
it.
You can configure single-click open by completing the following
steps:
Click the Start button and then click Control Panel.
In the Control Panel, click Appearance and
Personalization.
Under Folder Options, click Specify Single- or Double-click to
Open.
In the Folder Options dialog box, select Single-Click to Open
an Item (Point to Select) and then click OK.
Once you have everything set to open with a single click,
hopefully you will find that working with the Control Panel and Windows
Explorer is much more intuitive.
