Sizing Up the Control Panel
| As most experienced Windows users know, the Control Panel is the central location for making systemwide modifications to everything from accessibility options to user profiles. Microsoft has moved some features around in Windows XP from where you might expect them from your experience with Windows 2000, NT, 98, and so on. Most of these movements have resulted in new or expanded applets in the Control Panel. So, before throwing up your hands in frustration, check there (and Table 24.1 in the next section). The Help system also has a "Where is it now?" feature, which will help you locate seemingly vanished items.
Not all the settings the Control Panel handles are pivotal to effective or reliable operation of the system. In fact, many of the adjustments you can make from the Control Panel applets are interface improvements rather than related to system reliability and functionality. For example, the Display applet, among other things, can be used to make Windows a little easier to use or tolerate. Other applets are more imperative, such as applets for setting user rights, installing new hardware, or running system diagnostics. The preference settings you make via the Control Panel applets are stored in the Registry. Some are systemwide, whereas others are made on a per-user basis and go into effect when you log in. Many Control Panel applets can be accessed through other utilities. For example, Printers and Faxes can be added to your Start menu, the Display applet can be accessed by right-clicking the desktop and clicking Properties, Folder Options can be accessed through the Tools menu of My Computer and Windows Explorer, and Internet Options can be accessed through Internet Explorer's Tools menu. Although the paths may be multifarious, the results are the same; you usually end up running a Control Panel extension (files with .CPL extensions) to do your bidding. Keep in mind that you must have high-level permissions to modify many of the settings in the Control Panel. User-level settings such as display appearances are not a big deal. However, systemwide settings such as addition and removal of hardware are governed by the security monitor, and you must have the requisite permissions to successfully make modifications. TIP As you learned in Chapter 4, "Using the Windows XP Interface," you can opt to "expand" the Control Panel, making the applets appear in a fly-out window (by choosing Start, Control Panel), thus allowing you to avoid opening the whole Control Panel as a window. Using this fly-out window is worthwhile if you use the Control Panel a lot. To make this your default setting, right-click the Start menu and select Properties. In the dialog box that appears, click Customize, select the Advanced Tab, and then select the Display As a Menu radio button under Control Panel in the list of Start menu items. If you use a particular applet a lot, you can drag it into the Start menu or the Quick Launch bar for even faster access. Not all the Control Panel settings are discussed in detail in this chapter. Because a few of the Control Panel options pertain to other topics, such as networking or printing, or fall under the umbrella of system management, performance tweaking, or system applications, you'll find them in later chapters. Table 24.2, in the next section, lists each applet and where to look in this book for coverage of those not discussed here. Also, I won't bore you by covering each and every option in the dialog boxes. Many of the settings are intuitively obvious.
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EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 450