What is the first thing you do when you open the control panel in Windows Vista? I always switch it to Classic View and most people I know do the same. Microsoft got it so right with the Classic View and I cannot understand whey they are trying to convince people to move away from it. This is what Classic View looks like in Vista.
So what did I do when I opened the Control Panel in Windows 7? Yup! I wanted to switch it to the Classic Mode. The way I achieved my objective is a little different than how it is done in Vista. In Windows 7 you have to click on the View by drop-down and choose large icons of small icons depending on your preference. And I’m back to my Classic Mode for the Control Panel. And life is once again good :)
27 Responses to Windows 7 Control Panel In Classic Mode
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I hope someday window modifiers find a way to make it look exactly like vistas. and I meen EXACTLY same shape and size of icons.
even with classic view in win 7 I way to used to vista/xps control panel classic view.
thank you very much this was very helpful
Asi,
I’m Happy to know that the post was helpful.
Like much in Windows 7, they have broken something not needing fixing, and made it irreversible.
What’s nice about the old classic view, is that it’s like a regular explorer view. Which means you can group the items by whatever you wanted (like, say, category perhaps?). So it was just splendid functionally, it was only Microsoft’s default behavior that was rubbish. And it still is, but now it’s either that tedious variant of categorization, or none at all.
What they seem to have done right with regard to the control panel though, is that they have trimmed down the amount of items. But that didn’t require a functional remake of it.
I feel that they got the UI right for Control Panel in XP and since then with Vista and Win 7 they’ve been trying to to something creative with it. I don’t think it’s required. As you said “they have broken something not needing fixing”. I totally agree with that.
+1 Accurate. Deepak has it completely right – the UI for XP was great. Unfortunately, the GUI people at MS need to find a reasons to justify their existence so they force this shit onto us.
I’ve done this 4 times, and every time I exit out and later go back in, the view is back to the default. I don’t see any way to “Save Changes”, so what am I doing wrong? Is there a registry key I can modify to keep the Large Icon look?
My biggest problem with the Windows 7 control panel is that it isn’t consistent as advertised. I’m always having to follow your instructions above and switch it to Classic view EVERY SINGLE FREAKING time I go into it. SO finally I got frustrated and just went through with the registry fix. I found instructions how to fix it here: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/geek-stuff/force-list-view-in-windows-7-vista-control-panel/
Corky take a look, I know exactly how you feel mate.
Thanks Baxter. I’m about to try the fix myself.
I just bought a new computer with Windows 7 on it. I was able to set up Classic Look on my lower task bar, but am having 2 issues with the new Email look. When I get a new email I get the sound but the icon doesn’t show up in the lower task bar, just the lower bar on the Windows Mail page which can’t be seen if I have a web page open. Any way to fix this? It seems to be set up right. Also I hate the whole new look of the Windows Mail window, any way to get the Classic Look back? thanks……
This tip is so useles :-)
The view style which you selected is not a Classic View. It a crap-column view. In classic view items are not displayed in columns.
Heh! That so funny! Microsoft displayed stuff in control panel in columns but we have to read it in rows. Imagine that you have to read the newspaper this way. Haha!
Microsoft is the enemy…..
They need to constantly make changes to justify update $$$
No built in choices–Can’t revert to true Classic View, example.
Windows 7 is slow to boot up…..has fewer features than Vista
A long list of screw ups, and we keep paying for updates….
This is very interesting, but I’m wondering if someone has written a sort of hack utility to force the control panel into the old classic view like Windows Explorer? I’m blind and really liked being able to use the down arrow to move through the list without skipping items. the only way I’ve been able to work around this is to go into the start menu customization and have Control Panel show up as a menu and not as a link.
Hi David,
I am not aware of any such hacks. However if someone reading this post can suggest one then I’ll be happy to post it here.
Yeah, first thing i noticed in win 7 control panel category organization is that it’s totally confusing even after using it for a few months now.
Another problem is that it doesn’t display all icons, namely the 32bit such as DivX. Try finding it in category mode!
Change to large or small icons and another retard decision in the process of fixing something that wasn’t broken: like someone said before, now you’ve got columns but you have to read it in rows! Brilliant.
There is a fix for it, as stupid as it may seem, but you can resize the window so that only one column fits in it and then you can read it normaly top to bottom. Not so practical since you have to resize or maximize the window after clicking an icon.
I totally don’t get also the logic after you click a control panel icon.
Some pages have a column with tasks (or sometimes links?) on the left, some don’t. Some tasks take you to the same place like “Display / Adjust Resolution” and “Display / Change display settings”. I get it, they’re tasks, but isn’t it obvious that the Resolution is a Display Setting? Maybe like 3 people will benefit from having both tasks.
Sometimes you have tasks on the left column and on the right like in “Backup and Restore”: “Create system image” and “Create a system repair disk” on the left, “Backup now”, “Restore my files” and a bunch of others on the right. Where are we suppose to look for the tasks? It feels like each control panel icon was given to a different developer to “fix” (despite not being broken) and each one made things his way.
Try finding the Search functionality in the Categories view. I don’t know where it is. But in “All Control Panel Icons” view (another name for Large/Small icons view but if you access from Windows Explorer) there’s an “Indexing Options” icon.
Interesting. Indexing is a piece of the Search funcionality, but nobody does indexing, we do searches. And this icon doesn’t have any search options. The search options, other then the indexing part, is actually a tab in “Folder Options”. Ahh… Not to mention that for deactivating Search is still in another place.
For f@#$ sake, couldn’t we just have a Search icon in the control panel with all the options including indexing and enable/disable, that could be reached also from where it makes the most sense, meaning the search box itself and not “Folder options”???
I understand that a lot of effort was put into renewing the control panel and making pretty icons and create tasks and all, I suppose to make it easier to work (I doubt the intentions by now).
But the truth is that the number of icons present in a Control Panel is relatively small, especially if we count those that we use in a regular basis. Properly organized, it would be easy to find things. Tasks, tasks columns, home links and navigation buttons (especially with weird history navigation behaviours), were all dispensable. It’s not like we’re searching the internet, it’s just the Control Panel of Windows.
One could argue at this point to forget about how the control panel is organized and just use the search box in the start menu. I’ve tried searching for “search options”. Looked good since it returned both “Indexing Options” and “Change search options”… Only disabling Search is missing.
The thing is that it returned also “Add a printer” (???). And if you search just by “search” you getting something amazing like “Find missing Start Menu”. Nice, if I ever lose my Start Menu I’ll just go to the Start Menu and search for… oops, i don’t have a Start Menu. But I’m a computer geek and I know I can press F3 on the desktop and I get the search. Oops… the search in Win 7 is full of bugs and it’s not finding anything… Depending on search to find stuff in the control panel won’t work either. Not with this search. Nor with the tool I have installed to cover some of the holes of windows search.
The Control Panel was not broken in XP, it could be improved, but it turned out into a big mess. I guess the mess was one more thing they copied from the Mac OS.
Gee, I suddenly feel so normal. As I am a stroke victim, I thought the whole thing was just me. Reading this whole column tells me that there are many who feel the same. It is disgusting to pay for something that, in many ways, has taken steps backward instead of forward. I whole heartedly agree with everyone. I am trying to find a way to fix the whole thing to a degree that my sister can enjoy using her NEW computer which is now 3 months old and still basically untouched! She hates it. Does not understand it. It takes her too long to do what she wants. Granted, she is not a tech savy or even a tech interested person. But, this world we live in is requiring more and more use of computers. I can’t even imagine what will happen when they force her to use a Win7 OS at her work. Good to hear everyone’s ideas and thanks for the clues to some of the fixes.
Thank goodness for that, thought MS may have done away with classic view, Night Mare! Does anyone really understand any of the question options in W7 control panel?
+1 and the reason why I’m still using XP (among others). Since Vista and beyond MS has felt some insane urge to organize every aspect of Windows by filing it under “Misc” and calling it a day. God forbid anything is intuitive, no we need windows that sometimes create other windows, windows that like to work in the same window, menus inside menus inside menus, tasks to the left of the window, tasks above the window, tasks in the toolbar task menus, tasks in the context menu properties menu.
Trying to work with network properties is even worse. MS figured everything should be dumbed down so a 3 year old could understand it and at the same time made everything unhelpful to use. You used to be able to right click a connection and go properties. Now you have to start on some stupid “You’re connected to the internet…PUBLIC!!!!!!” screen then find the adjust something or other link on the right. If you want to deal with Wireless stuff you get more split screens and thousand toolbar buttons.
My third favorite…don’t bother trying to figure anything out because start menu search is there to help! Seriously I don’t like feeling fucking retarded by being forced to search for simple stuff like “change resolution” since I can’t find it in the maze of control panel context menu properties. Just as annoying as Office 2007/2010 and why I still use Office XP.
Still on a roll:
The task bar. Whoever designed that POS clearly never though that maybe people use programs that don’t have the world’s most unique icons. Every try installing 3 programs at once on 7 and they all have the same installer icon? Or better yet try having multiple documents open in the same program and then having to go through an extra click to select which is which. Preview? Yeah because I’m so retarded my life would end if I was forced to remember what programs were which or simply click on them to find out. Nope, I need a preview for sure.
Explorer…wow what were they thinking. I just want the left pane to be the folder tree. Nope, can’t have that. No you NEED libraries, places, favorites, and all their other junk. Want to turn the crap off you don’t use? Oopps windows search doesn’t have that…you have to delete registry keys. Without cleaning it up the folder tree ends up being an inch tall and being sandwiched between a mile of whitespace around the other crap.
Administrators look at a LOT of control panels. The lack of a details view for the Control Panel is plain stupid. “Small Icons” is no substitute. When the display is primarily text, people read DOWN a list, not left to right. When ANYTHING changes in the control panel, you have to look in a different COLUMN than before for EVERY SINGLE THING. It is NOT user-friendly, it is anti-intuitive and, again, stupid is as stupid does.
Windows Explorer substitute – Anonymous is right on.
They changed stuff that doesn’t even make sense to change, like renaming “accessibility” as “ease of access”. WHO THE HELL looks for handicap feature under “Ease”.
I am so tired of “features” that are apparently designed to look good in a demo or make the Windows desktop more “Mac”. I spend an extra 15 minutes per setup tracking down and turning off useless gestures, transparency (provides useless blurred view of background), animations and similar fluff, while turning on hidden menus. Hello, Microsoft, menus are a GOOD thing for people who read!
7 Taskbar Tweaker and Agent Ransack to get back in control of your taskbar and have a search that works.
my theory is, that they looked up some new psychological studies. it’s seems quite proven that people learn better, if they have to “work” more to obtain the information the are looking for. e.g. information that’s deciphered from a nearly illegible font is more likely to stay in your brain than text that’s easy to read. so, microsoft decided to educate their users and make it as hard and unintuitive as possible to use their OS.
and, on the other hand, there’s that old microsoft tradition that if something has worked well on macOS for some years, it must be copied (and broken in the process).
Dear major software companies: “invent” and make it “fancy” or “kewl” all you want but PRESERVE FAMILIARITY and preserve the detailed list, classic view, always, at all times, with granular OPTIONS.
Thank you very much. I am not afraid of some change, but too much change in the wrong areas frustrate me. Some things are best left alone. Thank you very much, I like the ‘classic view’ also.
It seems we’re the only ones on the interwebs that feel this way though. In fact, I was quite shocked at some of the people defending the new control panel. It’s August 2011 as I write this and every forum that I find has people DEFENDING Control Panel. I was happy to find my fellow ranters!
My turn…
I just want things listed top-to-bottom so that I can sort. Where’s the header so I can click it and SORT…..SORT, that basic functionality that EVERY user interface has ever had…ever. Funny thing is, you can select the View menu (after pressing the ALT key of course…ugh) and you’ll see our coveted options “LIST” and “DETAIL”, but they’re GRAYED OUT….AAAHH! This is basic functionality that shouldn’t have been removed from this frequently visited admin section.
Database 101 allows the sorting (ascending and descending) of a list of items…Control Panel should be no different.
On top of all, the Search function (if you ever actually find the damned search field) is completely broken. It doesn’t find things that I have proven is clearly located in the search path/content. I have verified all search options carefully, but still it fails.
What the hell is MS thinking? Search is a BASIC function in an operating system.
I have waited a long time now, still having XP at home, being afraid of upgrading to 7 as I knew they had adopted most things from the Vista user interface. I was thinking about finally going over some time soon.
But now I was given the chance testing it out more thorougly at work, and for sure I will stay with XP on my computers at home.
This is utter crap with no human logic whatsoever.
Luckily enough, my server is Linux.
As I said before, use 7 Taskbar Tweaker to get control of your taskbar. This one is great. You can even drag the tabs to get the order you want instead of closing and opening the apps in the order you want, like before in XP. With this tweaker and some configuration, my taskbar works just like XP’s, with the advantage or being able to drag the tabs to reorder. None of schizophrenic icons and imposed groupings, all visible and at the distance of one click.
Regarding search, I’ve long uninstalled windows search because it’s completly broken an user-unfriendly. First I tried Everything, now I use Agent Ransack. The tool is pretty good and gets the jobs done, although some searches return crazy multiple results, which happens in both search tools so again it’s probably Win 7 that is broken underneath.
Overall, upgrading from XP to Win7 didn’t bring me much benefit and that’s after all the work to fix the taskbar, find an alternative to search, etc. I have no solution yet for the control panel. It continues to be a pain to find the right icon everytime i need to uninstall an app.