Power tools for IT pros

Tweaking Windows 10

Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of customization and personalization options are available directly within Windows 10: the picture on your lock screen, your current time zone, and User Account Control settings are just a few examples.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has been slowly but steadily migrating these options from the classic Control Panel to the new Settings app. The result of this work-in-progress is that you can find the check box or option you’re looking for in either place.

Both the Settings app and classic Control Panel have search boxes. But here’s a secret most people don’t know: the search box in the Settings app also returns results from Control Panel.

So, if you’re looking for a specific setting, try opening the Settings app; using the shortcut Windows logo key+I (that’s a capital “eye”) is the fastest way. In the search box, type your keyword (see Figure 1-5) to see a list of matching results. Options from the Settings app appear at the top of the list; options for Control Panel settings appear below those for the Settings app and are easily identified by the colorful icons.

FIGURE 1-5 When you type a keyword in the search box at the top of the modern Settings app, the results include options from both Settings and classic Control Panel.

Note that the reverse is not true. If you open Control Panel and search for a term, your search returns results only for items that are in Control Panel. You won’t see any options that have been migrated to the newer Settings app. Figure 1-6 shows the results using the same search term as in the previous figure, but from within Control Panel.

FIGURE 1-6 Searching for a keyword in Control Panel returns only results from Control Panel. Options that have migrated to the newer Settings app aren’t included.

Most of the tweaks you’ll make using any of these “official” options are likely to be saved in the Windows registry. For deployment purposes or to make tweaks that aren’t readily available in the Settings app and Control panel, you’ll most likely use Registry Editor (which I cover in detail in Chapter 3) or Windows PowerShell (Chapter 9). Organizations also have the option to tweak computer and user settings by using Group Policy, which I discuss later in this chapter.