How to Hide Control Panel Applets


There are so many applets in the Control Panel that you never use. If you don’t want to see all of them in your control panel, this hack will let you hide applets in the Control Panel. It doesn’t enhance performance  but the main use of this hack is to make the control panel look clean and to make the navigation easy by showing only minimal applets which are required and hiding the useless applets . To do so..

 

Go to Registry Editor by typing regedit in RUN

 

Navigate to:

HCU\Control Panel\don’t load

(Yes, surprisingly, that key has an apostrophe!)

To hide the applets, you need to create a String Value for the filename of the applet in question, and set the value of the setting to No – or delete the key entirely to display the applet.

 

The file names of most of the common applets are as below, for quick reference. You might or might not find all the following on your system, and conversely, there could be applets on your system not mentioned here.

 

access.cpl – Accessibility Applet

appwiz.cpl – Add/Remove Programs Applet

console.cpl – Console Applet

timedate.cpl – Date and Time Applet

desk.cpl – Display Properties Applet

fax.cpl – Fax Applet

hdwwiz.cpl – Hardware Wizard Applet

irprops.cpl – Infrared Port Applet

intl.cpl – International and Regional Settings Applet

inetcpl.cpl – Internet Settings Applet

joy.cpl – Joystick Applet

liccpa.cpl – Licensing Applet

main.cpl – Mouse and Keyboard Applet

mlcfg32.cpl – Mail Applet

mmsys.cpl – Sound and Multimedia Applet

modem.cpl – Modem and Phone Applet

ncpa.cpl – Network and Connectivity Applet

netcpl.cpl – Network and Dial-up Connectivity Applet

nwc.cpl – Netware Client Applet

odbccp32.cpl – ODBC Applet

devapps.cpl – PC Card Applet

ports.cpl – Ports Applet

powercfg.cpl – Power Management Applet

sticpl.cpl – Scanner and Camera Applet

srvmgr.cpl – Server Manager Applet

sapi.cpl – Speech Properties Applet

sysdm.cpl – System Applet

telephon.cpl – Telephony Applet

tweakui.cpl – TweakUI Applet (if you have TweakUI installed)

nusrmgr.cpl – User Manager Applet

wspcpl32.cpl – WSP Client Applet

quicktime.cpl – QuickTime Applet

S32LUCP1.cpl – Norton Live Update Applet

 

Just find your applet and do as mentioned to hide your control panel applets. Remember that it is not recommended to play with registry editor especially when you are dealing with files of operating system. Happy Tweaking..!

Filed under: Tips n Tricks
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December 25, 2008 by: Prasanth Chandra

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