For those who love shortcuts, Control Panel

I know some of you out there love shortcuts and some shortcuts are hard to find for example Control Panel, I’ll give some tips

Want to start the Action Center? Just type

control.exe /Name “Microsoft.ActionCenter”

If you for example want to start Screensaver Settings directly you can type

control.exe desk.cpl,screensaver,@screensaver

Some of these shortcuts are self explained, but if you see something in the control panel you want to create a shortcut for, try following these steps to learn how to start the View Available Networks

Browse to the registry key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace

Browse the list with GUIDs until you find the one you are looking for, copy the GUID

Select the key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID and press CTRL+F to search for the GUID

Browse the keys below the GUID and look for the key Command

Copy the command and create your shortcut – Done!

 

Some nice resources

Executing Control Panel Items: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/cc144191(v=vs.85).aspx

How to Register Executable Control Panel Items: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh127450(v=vs.85).aspx

Implementing Control Panel Items: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/cc144185(v=vs.85).aspx