When it comes to finding features and settings in Windows, the Control Panel has always been where I go. The same holds for Windows 10. Let's take a look inside the Windows 10 Control Panel.

The Control Panel in Windows 10 contains all sorts of different features and settings. Some of them are easy to find, and others are not. But with a little patience, you find everything you are looking for and more.

Now finding the Control Panel in Windows 10 can be a little hard. There are two (2) different shortcuts: One on the Start menu and one on the Power User menu. I like to use the Power User menu shortcuts as they are speedy and easy to use.

How to access the Control Panel in Windows 10

1. Left-click on the Start menu.
2. Scroll down the list of programs and left-click on the Windows System folder to expand it.
3. Left-click on Control Panel.

or

1. Right-click on the Start menu or press the Windows logo key + X to bring up the Power User command menu.
2. Left-click on Run.
3. In the Run dialog box that appears, type control and left-click on Ok.

or

1. Press the Windows logo key + R to bring up the Run dialog box.
2. In the Run dialog box that appears, type control and left-click on Ok.

I am still amazed at how many features and settings I can access from the Control Panel. You can access everything from creating hard drive partitions to managing work folders.

I like the Settings app in Windows 10, but I am more familiar with the Control Panel like many other people. Did you know that it first appeared in Windows 2.0?

But with Windows 10, Microsoft has now deprecated it in favor of the Settings app. But there are still items that you can only find in the Control Panel. Third-party applets are one that comes to mind.

Going through all of the Control Panel features and settings in Windows 10 could take some time. Even changing the view from Category to Large icons or Small icons still doesn't give you all that the Control Panel contains.

Windows 10 Control Panel in God Mode

And then there is God Mode. If you're not familiar with God Mode, it lists all of the Control Panel features and settings in detail. Using God Mode, you can find some cool features and settings.

How to list everything inside of the Windows 10 Control Panel in one folder

For example, living in Arizona has one unique feature, never changing our clocks for daylight savings time. Now the downside is that all the rest of the U.S. does change its clocks twice a year.

Additional clocks on Taskbar in Windows 10

With having vendors across the U.S., I need to know what the time is in their time zone. I found under Clock, Language, and Region > Date and Time that I can add multiple clocks for the different time zones.

When you have some time, take a minute or two and explore through the Control Panel and see what cool features and settings you can find.

Got a video or music library and want to see how large it is? Maybe you downloaded a huge file and cannot remember where it is? If so, Space Sniffer may be what you need.

Windows built-in File Explorer works excellent when it comes to accessing files or folders. But when it comes to finding large files and folders, it can be cumbersome. It is times like this that Space Sniffer comes in handy.

Space Sniffer is a graphic visualization tool that uses blocks in a treemap to display the contains of a drive. The larger the square, the more space it is taking up.

Now, if you are running low on disk space, Space Sniffer is just what you are looking for. Space Sniffer, with its block treemap, can show you precisely what is taking up space on your drive.

I have used graphic visualization tools for years now. They are the fastest way to find a space hog on an internal/external hard drive or USB flash drive.

One of my favorite stories is when I used a graphic visualization tool to find a space hog on a network. It turned out to be a network anti-virus client that wasn't deleting old virus definitions and affected about 75% of the network computers.

Getting started with Space Sniffer could not be any easier. Just download the ZIP file and extract it to a folder of your choice. That is it; no installation required. It works great on a USB drive!

When you start Space Sniffer, you get prompted to choose a drive or path you want to view. Once you have selected one, click Start and Space Sniffer performs a full scan. The scan can take a minute or two on massive drives.

When the treemap appears, you can hover your cursor over a file or folder to get more information. And to zoom into a folder, all you have to do is double-click on it.

The main screen inside of Space Sniffer

The first time you run Space Sniffer, it opens with default settings, which can be overwhelming to many users. But if you go into the configuration menu (Edit > Configure), you can customize the display to your liking.

For example, you can change the colors used for files and folders, the look of the boxes (drop shadow, halo, etc.) and the zoom animation. You can also change the font and element size.

The configuration screen inside of Space Sniffer

There are a couple of configuration settings I highly recommend you activate. To ensure you see everything in a drive or path, make sure the Show free space on new views and Show unknown space on new views are selected.

And when you finish configuring Space Sniffer, it writes your preferences to a configuration file. That way, it will appear the same way from now on. Or until you erase the config file.

Another cool feature is that you can export the current view in Space Sniffer to a text file. This feature is also customizable, with several built-in configurations.

Space Sniffer is freeware, but donations to the project are always welcome. Just use the link on the toolbar or the Help pull-down menu. For more information on Space Sniffer, follow the link below.

SpaceSniffer, find lost disk space the easy way

Are you getting a low disk space warning in Windows? Or maybe you have been prompted to delete a previous version of Windows to gain some disk space? If so, here's how to quickly free up space on your drive.

We have all been there. You are working along, and all of a sudden, a little dialog box pops out and tells you that you are low on disk space. It used to happen a whole lot more years ago when drives were smaller. But it is scary when it does pop up.

Disk Cleanup

Now one way to quickly free up some disk space is to use the built-in Disk Cleanup utility. If you click on the Low Disk Space warning, it brings up Disk Cleanup with default settings.

The default settings for Disk Cleanup are pretty good and will do the job. But there are more advanced settings that can clean up even more files; you have to know how to get to them. You can also run Disk Cleanup as a Scheduled Task. Check out the links below.

Clean up Windows 7 with Disk Cleanup

Clean up Windows 8.1 with Disk Cleanup

Clean up Windows 10 with Disk Cleanup

Clean up Windows 11 with Disk Cleanup

Manually delete temporary files

If you are looking to delete the temporary files/folders quickly on your computer, here's a down-and-dirty quick way to do it. All you have to do is bring up a Run dialog box.

How to open a Run dialog box

All versions of Windows:
On the keyboard, press the Windows logo key + R

Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11:
Right-click on the Windows logo on the Start Menu or press the Windows logo key + X and then select Run

In the Run dialog box that appears, cut and paste or type either:

• %temp%
  (user temp folder)
• %systemroot%\temp
  (system temp folder)

and then select OK. If you get a prompt telling you that you do not currently have permission to access the folder, click on the Continue button. File Explorer will open and display the contents of that folder.

Now highlight one of the files and then press the CTRL + A keys simultaneously to select all of the files/folders. Right-click on them and select Delete. If you get a prompt about permanently deleting the files, left-click on Yes. If you get a prompt telling you that a file is still in use, make sure the Do this for all current items checkbox is selected and then left-click on Skip.

Turn off hibernation

If you still need to free up some space, you can disable hibernation and delete the hilberfil.sys file. That should give you a few more gigabytes of free space. You will need an administrative command prompt to run these.

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 7

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 8

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 10

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 11

Once you have an administrative command prompt open, just cut and paste or type the following into it:

• powercfg.exe /hibernate off
  (turn off hibernation)
• powercfg.exe /hibernate on
  (turn on hibernation)

Graphic Visualization Tools

Now when it comes to finding large files or folders, nothing can beat an excellent visual treemap. Instead of the usual file/folder data like you see in File Explorer, a graphic visualization tool shows file/folder information using blocks. The larger the square, the bigger the file/folder.

Years ago, I started using a graphic visualization tool when I had a client that all of the desktops began running out of disk space. Using a visualization tool, I found that the network-deployed anti-virus clients were downloading new virus definitions, but they were not deleting previous versions.

Now there are a couple of different graphic visualization tools out there. I first started using SpaceMonger but have since moved over to SpaceSniffer. It does not require any installation (unzip and go) and is entirely free (but donations are recommended).

Now right out-of-the-box SpaceSniffer can be a bit overwhelming with all of the information it provides. But with a couple of changes to the configuration, SpaceSniffer can open up just the way you like.

Now be careful not to go crazy and start deleting folders/files in the Windows folder. I know that it is one of the largest folders on the C: drive, but resist the urge to delete anything inside of the Windows folder. I would focus on the size of the user(s) folders/files. For more information on SpaceSniffer and how to use it, follow the link below.

SpaceSniffer, find lost disk space the easy way

So, you say your Windows 10 computer is starting to run slow and having errors. Or maybe you just got a new computer and want to recycle your old Windows 10 system. Then it may be time to reset Windows 10 on your computer.

Now over the years, Microsoft has made resetting Windows difficult, at best. In most versions, you had to reinstall Windows to get a clean copy. But with Windows 10, you can reset the operating system without losing your files.

There are two (2) reset options built-in to Windows 10. You can either keep your user files or remove everything. Take note; either option removes all applications not included with Windows 10. That means you will have to reinstall all of the programs you installed or came pre-loaded on your computer.

Below you will find the instructions for performing a reset of Windows 10 using the built-in feature. But if you want to remove everything, you do have two (2) more options. The first is using the Refresh Windows Tool, which does the same thing as the built-in remove everything option.

Refresh Windows Tool

The second option is a little more complicated but does have some advantages. With this option, you download the Windows 10 installation media and perform an in-place upgrade. With this option, you can choose to save your files and all of your installed programs. Or you can get rid of everything and start with a fresh copy of Windows 10. Now the in-place upgrade does reset all of Windows 10 settings back to default but retains all of the installed programs.

How to repair Windows 10 by doing an in-place upgrade

Always remember to backup your computer before performing any reset. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Backup Windows 10

How to reset Windows 10

1. Left-click on the Start button to bring up the Start menu.
2. Left-click on Settings (gear icon).
   
3. Left-click on Update & Security.
   
4. In the left-hand column, left-click on Recovery.
   
5. In the right-hand column under Reset this PC, left-click on the Get started button.
   
6. On the Choose an option page, left-click on either Keep my files or Remove everything.
   
• If you select Keep my files, you get a prompt with a list of the apps you will need to reinstall. Left-click on the Next button to proceed. Once you left-click on your choice, you'll come to the Ready to reset this PC screen. Left-click on Reset to proceed with the reset.
• If you select Remove everything, you will be prompted to either Just remove my files or Remove files and clean the drive. Once you left-click on your choice, you'll come to the Ready to reset this PC screen. Left-click on Reset to proceed with the reset.
7. In newer versions of Windows 10 (2004 and up), the next screen you get will ask you How would you like to reinstall Windows?
   
   Select either Cloud download or Local reinstall.
• Cloud download requires Internet access and can use more than 4GB of data
• Local reinstall uses the hidden recovery partition on your computer to reinstall Windows 10
8. Once you left-click on your choice, you'll come to the Reset this PC screen. Once you confirm your selection of settings, Left-click on Reset to proceed with the reset.

If you selected Remove files and clean the drive, you will need to go through the initial Windows 10 set up. For security reasons, Microsoft would like you to use a Microsoft account to sign in to Windows 10. But if you have used previous versions of Windows, you probably had a local account. And you might not have had a password at all. You can still create a local account in Windows 10, and here is how you do it.

When you get to the How would you like to set up? page,

left-click on Set up for personal use and then left-click on the Next button. On the Sign in with Microsoft page, left-click on the Offline account link down in the lower left-hand corner.

This will take you to a page titled Sign in to enjoy the full range of Microsoft apps and services.

Left-click on the Limited experience link down in the lower left-hand corner. The next page is Who's going to use this PC? This is where you create a local account.

Just type in a username and left-click on Next. The following screen will ask you for a password, but it's not required for a local account. If you do not want a password, leave the password field blank and left-click on Next. Without a password, when Windows 10 starts up, it will boot directly to the desktop.

Wi-Fi hotspots have become quite familiar with smartphone users. Having the ability to share your Internet connection can be a lifesaver at times. But did you know that you can do the same thing with a Windows 10 computer? Here's how to create a mobile hotspot in Windows 10.

It used to be that if you wanted to share your Internet connection on your laptop or desktop computer, you had to use third-party software like Virtual Hotspot. The cool thing is Microsoft has built that feature right into Windows 10.

I know what you're thinking; "When would I ever use a Wi-Fi hotspot?". Using the Windows 10 mobile hotspot can be extremely helpful if you have to pay for Internet access, like at a hotel or airport.

For example, when I travel, I like to set up my laptop to use a wired (Ethernet) Internet connection, because they usually are faster than wireless. Once I've established a wired connection to the Internet, then I share that connection with all of my wireless devices (smartphone, tablet, etc.).

Now there are a couple of requirements that your system has to have before the mobile hotspot feature becomes available. You have to have at least two (2) network adapters, and one of them has to be a wireless adapter. The connection to the Internet can be either wired, wireless, or cellular.

The mobile hotspot uses WPA2-PSK security, and only 8 (eight) devices can connect to it at one time. And the only thing you can share is your Internet connection. Devices connected to the mobile hotspot cannot access folders, files, or printers on the host computer.

How to set up a mobile hotspot in Windows 10

1. Left-click on the Start button (Windows logo) to bring up the Start menu.
   
2. Left-click on Settings (gear icon).
   
3. Left-click on Network & Internet.
   
4. In the left-hand column, look for the Mobile hotspot tab. You don't see it; your computer doesn't meet the requirements.
   
5. Under Network status in the right-hand column, make a note of which type of connection you are using.
6. In the left-hand column, left-click on Mobile hotspot.
   
7. In the right-hand column under Mobile hotspot, make sure the connection shown under Share my Internet connection from is the same connection from Step 5. If not, use the pull-down menu to change it.
8. Directly below the Share my Internet connection from pull-down menu is the Network name and Network password. If you want to change either of these, left-click on the Edit button below them.
   
9. Now go back to the top of the right-hand column and left-click on the Share my Internet connection with other devices slider switch to turn on your mobile hotspot.