Microsoft will finally eliminate the Control Panel in favor of the Settings application. We don’t know an exact date yet.

Microsoft officially shares its intention to bury the Control Panel in Windows. It was always Microsoft’s plan to move Windows’ buttons and switches to a new Settings app. In practice, this was a laborious process, with a Settings menu suited to the average user and the old Control Panel as a more comprehensive option for the experienced Windows user.

There have been rumors about the plans for a long time, but nothing concrete. So far, Microsoft has never clearly expressed its goal of burying the Control Panel. On a new support page, the Windows manufacturer offers an overview of all the important management tools in Windows.

Expiry

The Control Panel is described there as a central place to edit settings, but “The Control Panel is currently being phased out and replaced by the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience.” For example, Microsoft literally describes that its intention is to permanently eliminate the menu at a certain point.

The Control Panel has been around for a while: The menu has been around since 1985. It looks a bit dated now compared to the Settings app, but it offers some important advantages. First of all, far from all of the Control Panel’s features have migrated to Settings, making the Control Panel a more powerful tool.

Greatest common denominator

Then users who previously had to fiddle around with Windows settings will be familiar with the menu. In the Settings app, everything is in a different place that is not always easy to find. This is partly because Microsoft wants to effectively centralize everything in Settings, but still keep the application accessible to laypeople.

There is no timetable for the end of the Control Panel yet. Microsoft has been talking about the end of the tool since 2015, but after a decade and two versions of Windows, they still haven’t managed to transfer all the functionality to the settings. For now, the screen will probably remain for a while.