Control Panel
The Control Panel is a graphical tool used to configure the Windows environment and hardware devices. To access the Control Panel, you can click the Start button on the taskbar and select Control Panel. You can also display the Control Panel in any Windows Explorer view by clicking the leftmost option button in the address bar and then selecting Control Panel (see Figure 3.5).
Figure 3.5 Window Vista Control Panel in Category view.
Of the 10 categories that are listed, each category includes a top-level link, and under this link are several of the most frequently performed tasks for the category. Clicking a category link provides a list of utilities in that category. Each utility listed within a category includes a link to open the utility, and under this link are several of the most frequently performed tasks for the utility.
As with Windows XP, you can change from the default Category view to Classic view. The Control Panel in Windows Vista has two views: Category view and Classic view. Category view is the default view, which provides access to system utilities by category and task. Classic view is an alternative view that provides the look and functionality of Control Panel in Windows 2000 and earlier versions of Windows (see Figure 3.6).
Figure 3.6 Window Vista Control Panel in Classic view.