Windows 10: The beginning of the end for Control Panel

[tarekma7]

Microsoft has started testing the removal of the venerable System control panel on Windows 10 and instead redirecting users to the modern About page.

The System control panel allows users to get a brief overview of the operating system version, network configuration and installed hardware.

Commonly used to determine the Windows 10 version, computer name, and workgroup, and installed CPU and memory, the System control panel has been an often-used tool since it was introduced in Windows NT 3.51 and Windows 95.

As spotted by WindowsLatest, in Windows 10 Insider build 20161, Microsoft is rolling out a change that redirects users to the Windows 10 About page when trying to open the System control panel.

As part of this change, Microsoft has also added the ability to copy data from the About page and provide information about your active security protections.

The beginning of the end for Control Panel?

In Windows 8, Microsoft introduced the new modern Settings feature and moved much of the operating system's configuration and options to it.

At the same time, they kept the Control Panel in place and continued to use it for many configuration options.

The different appearance between the Windows 10 Settings and Control Panel has always led to a disjointed feel to configuring Windows 10.

The System control panel redirection appears to be beginning of a plan to retire the old Windows Control Panel and move all configuration options and information into the modern Windows 10 Settings pages.

"There will be more improvements coming that will further bring Settings closer to Control Panel. If you rely on settings that only exist in Control Panel today, please file feedback and let us know what those settings are," Brandon LeBlanc, Senior Program Manager of the Windows Insider Program, shared in a blog post.

The removal of Control Panel and its migrations of settings to the modern Windows 10 Settings is a good thing.

While it always sad to see something used so often go away, it has always felt like it did not belong in Windows 10.

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