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Category: Control Panel

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Allow Only Certain Items or Hide them All

    The method below works well for removing certain items from the Control Panel. But if you only want to show a few items, you don’t want to type them all in. So instead select Show only specified Control Panel items.
    Then type in only the items you want to be shown. For example we only want Programs and Features, System, and Sound to be displayed.
    Now when you open Control Panel, only the items you want will be displayed.
    If you don’t want anything displayed at all for some reason you can do that as well. If you try to keep the value field empty, you’ll get the following error.
    So in the value field type in null then OK and close out of Group Policy Editor.
    Then when you open Control Panel.There’s nothing to see here.
    Removing items from Control Panel can be useful if you you no longer need an icon for an uninstalled item, want to clean out the clutter, or just don’t want users to see them.

    Again, always remember to create a Restore Point or backup the registry before making any changes to it!

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Hide Control Panel Items Through Group Policy


    Sometimes you might want to hide an item in the Control Panel permanently or for a short period of time. Here we take a look at hiding them through Local Group Policy Editor.
    Note: Keep in mind Group Policy is not available in Home versions of Windows. For this demonstration we’re going to hide QuickTime & Sync Center since we never use them.
    To open Group Policy type gpedit.msc into the Search bar in the Start Menu and hit Enter.
    Local Group Policy Editor opens and you want to navigate to 

    User Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ Control Panel. 

    In the right pane double-click on Hide specified Control Panel items.

    Select Enabled and under Options you will see List of disallowed Control Panel items. Click on the Show button.
    This will bring up a window where you can enter in the items you don’t want displayed in the Control Panel. In each Value field we’ll type in QuickTime and Sync Center then click OK.
    Note: You might want to use proper Canonical names so for example Microsoft.SyncCenter. In our tests we had success without using the Canonical names. If you experience problems not using Canonical names leave a comment and let us know.
    Click OK again and close out of Group Policy Editor. If you already had Control Panel open close and reopen it again to refresh the view. As you can see, QuickTime and Sync Center is no longer listed.
    The neat thing about using Group Policy Editor is that you can unhide an item if you need to by going back and deleting a certain value. For instance we want to show QuickTime again, so we’ll delete the Value.

    All you need to do is highlight the value and clear the field and we’re done. The QuickTime icon is back.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Remove Unwanted Items From the Control Panel in Windows 7

    Have you ever opened the Control Panel in Windows 7 and thought there is no reason to have some of the icons listed? Today we take a look at how to remove unwanted or unneeded items from Control Panel in Windows 7.

    Delete CPL Files

    In this example we want to remove the Realtek HD Audio Manager because we have a new sound card and don’t use the integrated sound that came with it.
    We can delete the CPL file associated with the icon. You will need to have administrator privileges so make sure you’re logged in as Admin. Then navigate to the following directory.
    C:\Windows\System32
    Once there instead of scrolling through everything to find what you need, simply type *.cpl into the Search field in Explorer. This is a “wildcard” search that will bring up all the CPL items in the directory.
    This should easily allow you to scroll through and find the one you want to remove. For this instance it’s RTSnMg64.cpl for Realtek Sound Manager. You might want to backup the file or create a System Restore Point before deleting it.
    After deleting the file you need to close out of Control Panel and when you open it back up, the item will be gone.

  • Windows 7 Tips

    Disable Control Panel with a Registry Tweak

    <!–[if !mso]> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <![endif]–>You can also tweak the Registry to disable Control Panel. This will work with all versions of Windows 7, Vista, and XP. Making changes in the Registry is not recommended for beginners and you should create a Restore Point, or backup the Registry before making any changes.

    Type regedit into the Search box in the Start menu and hit Enter.

    In Registry Editor navigate to 
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer. 
    Then right-click in the right pane and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value.

    Name the value NoControlPanel. Then right-click on the new Value and click Modify.

    In the Value data field change the value to “1” then click OK. Close out of Registry Editor and restart the machine to complete the process.

    When you get back from reboot, you’ll notice Control Panel is no longer listed in the Start menu.

    If a user tries to access it by typing Control Panel into the Search box in the Start menu.

    They will get the following message indicating it is restricted, just like if you were to disable it via Group Policy.

    If you want to re-enable the Control Panel, go back into the Registry and change the NoControlPanel value back to “0” then reboot the computer.


  • Windows 7 Tips

    How To Disable Control Panel in Windows 7
    If you have a shared computer that your family and friends can access, you might not want them to mess around in the Control Panel, and luckily with a simple tweak you can disable it.
    Disable Control Panel with Group Policy
    Note: This process uses Local Group Policy Editor which is not available in Home versions of Windows 7. Skip down below for the registry hack version that works on Home editions as well.
    First type gpedit.msc into the Search box in the Start menu and hit Enter.
    When Local Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to User Configuration \ Administrative Templates then select Control Panel in the left Column. In the right column double-click on Prohibit access to the Control Panel.
    In the next window, select Enable, click OK, then close out of Local Group Policy Editor.


    After the Control Panel is disabled, you’ll notice it’s no longer listed in the Start Menu.

    If the user tries to type Control Panel into the Search box in the Start menu, they will get the following message indicating it’s restricted.


  • Windows 7 Features

    Windows 7 Control Panel Canonical Names

    Recently there was a lot of buzz on Windows 7 god mode. Microsoft has come up with an explanation and a list of other godmodes aka Canonical names for control panel item.