Windows 7 Control Panel: the category view that a decade of PCs was configured through

How Windows 7 organises its Settings

System and Security is the first category and the deepest: Action Center, Windows Firewall, System with the edition and Device Manager, Windows Update, Power Options and Backup and Restore. Network and Internet leads to the Network and Sharing Center, where adapters, connections and HomeGroup live. Hardware and Sound holds Devices and Printers, AutoPlay, Sound and Power Options again, because Windows 7 lists many items in two places.

Programs is Programs and Features, the uninstall list, plus Default Programs. User Accounts covers the password, picture, User Account Control level, Parental Controls and Credential Manager. Appearance and Personalization is where Aero themes, the desktop background, window colour, screen saver, display scaling, taskbar and folder options sit. Clock, Language, and Region and Ease of Access finish the categories, and the Desktop Gadgets, Devices and Printers and Search entries below them are the icon-view items the category grid does not cover.

The top-level menu in Windows 7 SP1

The 11 entries on the first screen of Settings, in the device's own order; each links to the options inside it.

1. System and Security
2. Network and Internet
3. Hardware and Sound
4. Programs
5. User Accounts
6. Appearance and Personalization
7. Clock, Language, and Region
8. Ease of Access
9. Desktop Gadgets
10. Devices and Printers
11. Search

What changes between versions

One release is here: Windows 7 with Service Pack 1, the version that reached almost every Windows 7 PC and the one Microsoft supported until 2020. The Control Panel did not change between the 2009 release and SP1 beyond the window text, so a single rung represents the system; the simulator uses it as the classic counterpart to the Windows 11 Settings app.

• Windows 7 SP1 (newest)

Three settings worth knowing the path to

1. Control Panel > User Accounts > Change User Account Control settings

   The four-notch slider that decides how often Windows asks for permission. Windows 7 introduced it, and it is the setting people came to Control Panel to lower.

2. Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore

   Windows 7's own backup, with Set up backup and Create a system image. Later Windows kept it for years under the name Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

3. Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization

   The Aero themes, Windows 7 Basic and High Contrast, with Desktop Background, Window Color and Screen Saver beneath. It is the page a whole generation used to make a PC their own.

Questions people ask about Windows 7 settings