David Geer Talks Tech
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Thursday, July 21, 2005
Do you need all that clutter in the control panel? Courtesy of http://www.GeerCom.com.
Geer Communications - your on time technology writer!
Welcome!
To clean up the control panel and make it easier to find what you are looking for, the following instructions will help you keep unused icons from loading when the control panel is opened. You will be able to easily undo this operation as well if you ever need to access those items again.
Go first to my computer, view and folder options. Go to file types, scroll to control panel extensions and select edit. Make sure always show extension is checked. Click OK twice and close the My Computer window.
Go to the Start button, Settings and open the Control Panel. Make a list of those items you don't use. Close this all out. Go to the Start button, then to Search or Find depending on your version of Windows, and open (For) Files or Folders. Type *.cpl in the … Named field. Look in C drive. Check include subfolders if you are working in Windows 98. Select find now.
You should get a list of .cpl files. Right click each, one at a time. Select the option Open with Control Panel. If it's a utility you use, close this .cpl window and go on to the next. If not, close it and do the following.
Right click the .cpl file for the unwanted item. Left click on Rename (some .cpl under XP do not have a rename option). Write the full name and extension as is to keep a record of it. Then rename only the extension to something the computer won't recognize like .aaa and write down that full name including the new extension. Hit the Enter button on the keyboard to save the name change. Do this for each .cpl icon you don't want to see in the Control Panel.
When you are all finished, close the Search window and open the Control Panel to see (or not see) the changes you have made. Because you have recorded the old and new names, you can undo what you have done should you ever need to. Simply search one at a time for the new names with extensions with the same find utility. Rename them to their respective old names, extensions.
Best,
David Geer - your on time technology writer!
Geer Communications
Geer Communications - your on time technology writer!
Welcome!
To clean up the control panel and make it easier to find what you are looking for, the following instructions will help you keep unused icons from loading when the control panel is opened. You will be able to easily undo this operation as well if you ever need to access those items again.
Go first to my computer, view and folder options. Go to file types, scroll to control panel extensions and select edit. Make sure always show extension is checked. Click OK twice and close the My Computer window.
Go to the Start button, Settings and open the Control Panel. Make a list of those items you don't use. Close this all out. Go to the Start button, then to Search or Find depending on your version of Windows, and open (For) Files or Folders. Type *.cpl in the … Named field. Look in C drive. Check include subfolders if you are working in Windows 98. Select find now.
You should get a list of .cpl files. Right click each, one at a time. Select the option Open with Control Panel. If it's a utility you use, close this .cpl window and go on to the next. If not, close it and do the following.
Right click the .cpl file for the unwanted item. Left click on Rename (some .cpl under XP do not have a rename option). Write the full name and extension as is to keep a record of it. Then rename only the extension to something the computer won't recognize like .aaa and write down that full name including the new extension. Hit the Enter button on the keyboard to save the name change. Do this for each .cpl icon you don't want to see in the Control Panel.
When you are all finished, close the Search window and open the Control Panel to see (or not see) the changes you have made. Because you have recorded the old and new names, you can undo what you have done should you ever need to. Simply search one at a time for the new names with extensions with the same find utility. Rename them to their respective old names, extensions.
Best,
David Geer - your on time technology writer!
Geer Communications
