When Microsoft released Windows 10 in 2015, it introduced the new Settings app. Back then, Microsoft said that the app would replace the ancient Control Panel in the future.
And so it began. The initial version of Settings lacked many options that the Control Panel offered. Users and administrators had to juggle between the two to configure Windows.
While Microsoft moved some sections to the Settings app in the years that followed, the Control Panel is still going strong in 2024.
Take the “uninstall a program” option in the Control Panel. It is far superior to the “all apps” section of the Settings app. It features a table that lists more information and is fully sortable. It offers eight different views: five more than what the Settings app offers.
The Control Panel offers 38 different configuration options in the latest version of Windows 11. If Microsoft continues the snail-like pace, it may take very well until 2035 and Windows 15 before everything has been moved over.
The juggling between Control Panel and Settings app is just one of the issues that users may experience.
Is there any order in the Settings app?
The Settings app displays categories in a sidebar on the left. The main pane lists the configuration pages of the active category.
The order seems random in both panes. The sidebar begins with Home, System, and Bluetooth & devices. Apps is found after Personalization, and Windows Update at the very end. Maybe it is the most popular options that you find nearer to the top, but is Bluetooth & devices really more popular than Personalization?
Similarly, when you open a category, you get an unordered list of pages. System lists Display, Sound, and Notifications at the top.
Apart from that, you may also sometimes have trouble finding something. All Start and taskbar settings are found under Personalization, but when you want to enable scroll bars for all windows, you have to visit Accessibility to do that. There, you also find the option to change the mouse pointer or text size.
Nearby sharing is found under System, even though it might fit better under Network & Internet, or Bluetooth & devices.
A search is provided, which is helpful, provided that you know the name of the setting. Type “mouse”, and you get every setting related to the term.
Microsoft could introduce sorting options or favorites to improve accessibility.
All Settings is awol
The Settings app offers no list of all settings that it contains. It would be useful to get a full list, especially if it could be sorted by name.
Unless you really know the Settings app, it may simply take too long to find something. Search is useful to a degree, but if your search term is too broad, you get lots of results.
Closing Words
It is time for Windows to get a central location for settings. The current state of the Settings app is lacking, especially when it comes to finding a specific page.
What is your take on the Settings app? Do you still use the Control Panel?