Microsoft Says It Will Soon Deprecate Control Panel to Prioritise Settings App for a ‘Streamlined’ Experience

Microsoft has announced that it will soon deprecate an application that has been included in every version of Windows since the introduction of the Windows 1.0 in 1985. The app in question is Control Panel – Microsoft's applet which lets users view and tweak various system settings. It joins an exhaustive list of apps and features that have been deprecated by the Redmond-based technology giant in recent years, including the iconic Internet Explorer.

Microsoft to Deprecate Control Panel

On a support page titled “System configuration tools in Windows”, Microsoft says that its Control Panel acts as a centralised location for viewing and changing system settings and controls, such as system time, hardware and date. However, it is in the process of deprecation.

The tech giant is prioritising the use of the Settings app which is claimed to provide a “more modern and streamlined experience.” Although it has been confirmed that Windows will move on from Control Panel, no timeline has been announced. Microsoft cites compatibility reasons for its current existence.

Although it has some features which have not been migrated yet, the tech giant advises users to prefer the Settings app to tweak things whenever possible.

The decision to remove the Control Panel from Windows was first announced back in 2015. In response to user queries on X (formerly Twitter), Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's Senior Program Manager at the time, said that the Settings app would eventually supersede Control Panel and not all of its features would be carried over. This claim was then bolstered by Gabe Aul, the company's then head of the Insider Program.

In a subsequent comment, Aul cited code complexity and increased disk/memory usage due to having two distinct apps with similar purposes as the probable reason behind this move.

However, Control Panel is not the only app that Microsoft is deprecating. In recent months, the company has announced that it will also be doing away with the Paint 3D app and it will be removed from the Microsoft Store on November 4. For viewing 3D content, users are advised to use the 3D Viewer application.