nerd rage

A weird combo of nostalgia, inevitability and mild exasperation: Windows 11 deprecates the Control Panel (updated)

UPDATE, August 26, 2024: Microsoft has changed the wording of the note that resulted in the Ars Technica article. The update is in the same article link below, but for the link-averse, here's the before/after:

BEFORE: "The Control Panel is in the process of being deprecated in favor of the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience."

NOW: "Many of the settings in Control Panel are in the process of being migrated to the Settings app, which offers a more modern and streamlined experience."

The story on Ars Technica: Microsoft formally deprecates the 39-year-old Windows Control Panel

It’s explained in the story that the time between announcing official deprecation of the Control Panel (now) and it actually being removed from Windows could span years. The current Settings app has a few things to recommend it:

  • Generally it looks nicer and more modern
  • It features breadcrumb navigation
  • The search (which you will probably need) works reasonably well in my experience

But it also falls short:

  • Many Control Panel settings are absent, especially ones for more advanced options
  • The categories are, I think, not as straightforward
  • System seems to be a dumping ground for “Where do we put this setting?”
  • It’s a single window, so you can’t have two of them open at the same time
  • The home page is filled with information pseudo-ads for Microsoft services, such as OneDrive, Microsoft 365 and more

The comments on the article are a mix of nostalgia and the expected nerd rage against the generally considered-to-be inferior Settings app. This comment resonated with me:

The reason it resonates is that I feel that same nostalgia when I see that mid-90s Windows GUI. I feel that GUI, with higher-resolution elements and a few tweaks, would look fine today and in some ways, even better than what we have with Windows 11 (also see my post on Windows GUI: Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (Ranked)). The post also hits on an issue that has been happening since the Settings app was introduced in 2012 with Windows 8: A constant visual clash between Settings and Control Panel. Also, it’s been 12 years! Why is Microsoft still not finished moving over everything in the Control Panel to Settings1This is the mild exasperation referenced in the title? ~nerd rage intensifies~

Anyway, I actually rarely use Control Panel these days, as Windows mostly just works (and I use PowerToys, which probably helps), but the article did prompt me to pin Control Panel to the Start menu, just in case. Then I went in and looked through some of the options, pretending it was suddenly 1999 again and computers were cool. They were still tools, but they were also just kind of neat. To nerds, at least.

Nerd rage: Razer Synapse 2.0 software

I originally posted this on Broken Forum but the process bugged me so much that I feel obligated to repost it here.

I hooked up my Deathadder 2013 edition mouse to my MacBook because I switched over to a Logitech 700s on my PC and was no longer using the Deathadder there. Using the built-in drivers the Deathadder seemed a bit twitchy on the Mac, with the cursor often leaping from the external monitor back to the laptop’s display. I decided to install the much-maligned Razer Synapse 2.0 driver configuration thingie, which requires you to be online (initially, at least).

First I had to create an account. The system kept telling me that my chosen username and/or password were bad without providing any details as to why. I finally figured out it didn’t like special characters in passwords. What is this, the 1890s? Anyway, I got to where the account was created and apparently missed a verification email with a link I had to click on (because the page made no mention of it). I tried my username/password combo, knowing it was correctly entered but again the system kept saying it wasn’t (due to the aforementioned unmentioned verification requirement).

Here’s the best part, though: after several “unsuccessful” attempts I was locked out.

Of a driver.

I could not configure my mouse unless I waited at least five minutes first. At that point the system would generously grant me the privilege of entering my username and password again.

Instead I uninstalled the software and made a promise to myself to never buy another Razer product. (The uninstall naturally did not allow me to just drag the icon off the menu bar, I had to hunt down a separate uninstall app in the Applications/Library folder. But it is gone now. Hopefully.)