Since the debut of Windows 8 in 2012, Microsoft has been eager to replace the aged Control Panel with the newer Settings app. The transition so far has been slow and gradual.

As we wrote in our 2015 guide, the Control Panel allows you to add or remove software/hardware, administer user accounts, manage security settings, change how Windows looks and acts, and more. But ...

What just happened? The Control Panel has been an essential component of Microsoft Windows for decades, and was originally introduced in Windows 1.0 in the mid-80s. However, its days are numbered ...

The Settings app was initially introduced in Windows 8 in 2012 as a touchscreen-friendly alternative for some of the Control Panel applets, but during the Windows 10 era it began picking up more ...

The Control Panel first appeared in Windows 1.0 so it’s about as legacy as it gets. The Settings app, on the other hand, appeared in 2012 and was introduced with a bare-bones set of features ...

Most Windows options are now available in the modernized Settings apps on Windows 10 and Windows 11. However, a few loose ends remain in the aging Control Panel window.

In contrast, the Control Panel has been a foundational component of the Windows operating system since its very beginning in 1985, with the release of Windows 1.0.