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This has really bugged me since I took the plunge and upgraded to Windows 7. I think everything is great on the whole apart from the Control Panel.

Instead of ordering from top to bottom like in normal folders, it is ordered from left to right. Whenever I go to find something in Control Panel it takes 3 times as long because I expect to find Programs and Features below Power Options yet it is to the right.

This is a screenshot to demonstrate - note the ordering goes across instead of down.

alt text

Does anyone have a cunning fix to display the Control Panel ordered in the same way that normal folders are displayed?

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My advice to you is to get used to using the fantastic Start Menu search feature instead of hunting for icons. You want Programs and Features? Simply press the Start button, type "programs" and there it is. – OverloadUT Nov 12 '09 at 23:58
Same advice to anyone else with a similar moan. Using the Start orb thingy really is the way forward. So much quicker. – kez Feb 14 '11 at 23:16
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3 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

The Control Panel uses Tiles View to display the items. Tiles View is left to right and is default behavior (In fact, Icons (Small/Large) View is left to right too)

Unfortunately, there is no way to tell the control panel to use List View, which is what you seem to want. (Only List View, Details View and Content View is top to bottom).

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+1 that's correct, complaints about this emerged right from the first test releases but as usual, Microsoft din't care much for user input/feedback, what's new? :) – Molly7244 Sep 30 '09 at 22:11
ahh, microsoft innovation at its finest. :) – quack quixote Mar 16 '10 at 14:38
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up vote 5 down vote

The left to right ordering in the W7 Control Panel is excruciatingly annoying. I looked around for a W7 tweaking tool that might present a different CP view and didn't see anything.

So, I put together a folder of shortcuts of W7 CP items, which can in fact be ordered any way one likes, since it's just an ordinary folder. I set the "Comment" fields of the shortcuts to match the roll-over text of the actual Control Panel items, so when the folder Comment column is enabled, the list of shortcuts look a lot like the XP/Vista CP details view.

This folder of W7 shortcuts can be downloaded here:

W7 Shortcuts Folder Download

The downloaded file is a self-extracting 7z bundle that outputs the folder "W7 ListView Control Panel"

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Interesting workaround creating a folder of shortcuts which can then be ordered. I like it, thanks. – kez Nov 16 '09 at 11:30
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up vote 1 down vote

Hey, I found a solution! Simply make your Control Panel window's horizontal dimensions smaller (i.e. make your control panel tall and skinny). Now there is no annoying left-right ordering because you have a single column of icons listed in alphabetical order, which you can easily scroll up and down.

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Hardly a 'fix', just a workaround! – HaydnWVN Oct 31 '11 at 10:54
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