A lot of folks don’t realize the treasures that lurk in their Control Panel. To get to the Windows Control Panel, choose StartSettings|Control Panel. You see a window filled with icons, but you may have little idea what they all do. From the Control Panel you have the power to resolve hardware conflicts, change how your monitor looks, and the noises your computer does (or does not) make.
Here’s a list of a few underutilized icons and what they do.
- Add/Remove Programs: Use this icon to remove software instead of just going berserk with the Delete key. Using the icon removes software properly. You can also use this icon to create a Windows Startup disk, which you can use to help recover your system after a crash.
- Display: Use this icon to change your display settings. Click the Settings tab to change your resolution or the number of colors displayed. Click the Screen Saver tab to change your screen saver or how often it activates.
- Internet: Use this icon to get to Internet Properties. Here you can clean out your temporary Internet files, which could be cluttering up your hard disk.
- Modems: you can change various properties here. One notable change is to turn off the modem’s speaker. Highlight your modem, and click Properties. Move the Speaker Volume slider all the way to the left to turn it off.
- Printers: If you double-click on a printer icon, a window opens and you can see the current print jobs, which you can then pause or delete. You also can add new printers here.
- Sounds: If you hate the standard Windows sounds, you can change them here.
- System: You can see whether or not you have driver conflicts by clicking the Device Manager tab. If you see a little icon with an exclamation point next to an item, there’s a problem.
Depending on your version of Windows and your configuration, you are likely to have a number of other icons in the Control Panel as well. Take the time to look through the various settings. You might find that with a little exploration, you can change a few settings and get your computer running just the way you want.