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Tweaking Windows 10 – Version 20H2

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First Things First

Beginning with the Windows 10 Creators Update, some genius at Microsoft thought it would be fun to remove your Control Panel icons. I have seen several articles showing unnecessarily complicated steps to get them back, e.g., use this program, edit the registry, etc.

It is very easy to get these icons back:

1 – Open File Explorer

2 – Click the View tab

3 – Click Options > Change folder and search options

4 – Scroll down and select Show all folders (click Apply)

5 – Control Panel now appears in the left window of File Explorer.

6 – To create a shortcut, click and hold on the Control Panel icon and drag it onto the desktop.

You can keep the shortcut there, move it, rename it, etc.

7 – There are also the standard right-click options.

Now, let’s adjust the control Panel view to Large Icons. This will make everything else easier. Right-click on Start > Control Panel Or Press the Windows + R keys > type control.exe

Choose View by: Large Icons

Now isn’t this better?

 

UAC

Not to be rude but I’m tired of the diatribe bandied about on this topic. I’m not going to debate this topic with anyone for any reason. I disable it (kinda) on my computers. See my article UAC – Quick notes on why I disable it. I am not recommending that anyone disable UAC. The choice is yours as are the consequences. Make an informed decision.
Note – This does NOT “completely” disable UAC. It just eliminates prompts.

See:
User Account Control (Microsoft)
How User Account Control works (Microsoft)

To Disable UAC:

– Type or copy and paste UserAccountControlSettings.exe into the run box or Search box.
– In the resulting window, move the slider all the way to the bottom.
– Reboot

To Configure UAC:

– Type or copy and paste UserAccountControlSettings.exe into the run box or Search box.
– In the resulting window, adjust the slider to the desired level of control (see comments above).
– Reboot

To Completely Disable UAC

– I do not recommend this. I do not do this.
– DO NOT DISABLE THIS IF YOU USE MICROSOFT UNIVERSAL APPS
– Windows + R keys > gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > set User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode to Disabled > Reboot

or via regedit:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
“EnableLUA”=dword:00000000

 

 

God Mode
While we’re at it, let’s do this oldie but goodie.
A tweak to add a shortcut to all control panel items (actually All Tasks) surfaced a while back. It soon began to spread around the web as God Mode. People who fancy themselves as “Windows Experts” immediately scoffed at this tweak. Although the name given to it was a little silly, the tweak is pretty handy, and I like it. This gives you a ton of Control Panel and Admin tools in one place. I highly recommend it.

Right-click on the Desktop, within a partition, or in a folder (depending on where you want the shortcut to be located) > choose New > Shortcut > enter explorer shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} > click Next and give it a name.
Now, that will leave you with the Explorer icon, which, meh. You can change it by right-clicking on the icon and choosing Properties > Change Icon button > and choosing or browsing to an icon (I made my own). You can move or pin this wherever you like. Now double-click it and check it out!

My God Mode Icon
GodeModeIcon zip file (contains .png and .ico files)

 

Tips For This Guide

The Windows + Pause|Break keys
The Windows + Pause|Break keys shortcut is one of my favorite shortcuts. This shortcut brings up the System Properties window. From there you can access a number of other tools and settings windows. See how to bring back the old System Properties window described later in this guide.

Windows + R keys
Throughout this guide I will often say press the Windows + R keys to enter the run box. This is “old school”, and it’s just the way I do things. You can accomplish the same thing by typing the command in the Search Box, or by using a 3rd Party start menu, or the…

Windows + S keys
Pressing the Windows + S keys brings up the search box. Handy if you remove the search box from the taskbar as I do.

The Search Box
While there is a definite speed advantage to using the Windows + R keys, in many ways using the search box (Windows + S keys) is a superior way of doing things. It allows you to find apps and settings when you don’t know the command and/or where to find it. Let’s say you want to delete that loser of an Ex’s user account from your computer, but you aren’t sure where to go. Just type “user” in the search box, and look at those options.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  4. Edward Kiefer says

    I notice in your Wise Disk cleaner part your showing version 8, there at version X which has Windows WinSxS (not show in version 8).
    not a big deal but thought I mention it.

  5. Steve B says

    Hey Eric,

    I guess gone are the days where we would pour thru Black Viper’s tables to figure out what to disable. Kudos to BV of course, but it’s nice we don’t have to worry about Windows services all that much anymore.

    I would recommend disabling 2 additional services — Remote Registry (maybe I’m old school and this doesn’t matter anymore, but the name of the service is still downright scary), and Connected User Experience & Telemetry (thanks but no thanks MSFT).

    Great guide and thanks as always for your efforts,
    Steve

  6. Richard Freeston says

    I’ve noticed a small typo on page 17 under File History. The seventh word has an extra ‘s’ in it (constinuously).
    Also the grammar of the first sentence does’nt seem quite right. I suggest leaving out the second and third words.

  7. 7 says

    Eric: The registry hack for removing the word “Shortcut” from new shortcuts doesn’t seem to work in my version of Win 10 Pro 64b (20H32 v19042.746 Experience pack 120.2212.551.0). Instead the hex for link appears to operate as an incrementing count. For instance, say the Hex is showing 17 00 00 00 when I open RegEdit; I can set the Hex to 00 00 00 00 but on restart it shows 18 00 00 00. I wonder if it’s me, or MS?

    • Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says

      Try:

      Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

      [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
      “link”=hex:1e,00,00,00

  9. Rita R. says

    (Libraries) Just an FYI copy pasting the folders to a new location is an unnecessary step. The move dialog will do the work of moving the files in those folders for you, save yourself a couple of seconds and an insignificant amount of bytes on the web.

    Peace, Love, Donuts,
    Rita

    • Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound) says

      A folder with the name of the library needs to exist in the location you want to move it to. The files are still moved. Copy/paste is just as fast and easy as your way.

  10. Rita Rodriguez says

    Since Windows 10 is funky, if anyone reads these comments I have something to add, particularly for y’all gamers.

    #1 Heed the warning and /do/ not remove windows apps from your machine with O&O, user only is enough. It deleted my app manifest so a batch reinstall did not work, and couldn’t find a way to restore it. Windows Store works fine for everything but Cortana, you need to do an extra step to get her back, even if only to disable, its a windows 10 trend that follows to my next suggestion.

    #2 Go into gaming settings and just disable Game Mode/Game bar, don’t remove the app from user or computer. While it has no affect, every game you run calls the game bar and will pop an error saying its missing, I assume it has to do with the processes that start up Full Screen Optimizations calling game bar as well, regardless if its disabled it will never load. It is safe to uninstall the console companion.

  11. DanS says

    In 20h2 there is no longer the option “sign in with a local account instead” after you have signed in with a Microsoft account. I had a coworker do this by mistake and now I cannot remove his Microsoft account from the workstation. Is there a way to manually remove the Microsoft account?

  12. Michael Damian says

    Hi Eric,

    you may provide a reg-hack which patches the Windows 10 version number (not product key) to a recent one?

    Reason:
    MS does not deliver any apps via [Get], in my case today the free HTML5 Video Downloader by Arcadio Garcia (link below),
    if they do not meet version # 10586.0 at least.

    Last December I updated the OS for the sake of another app which left me in a total language mix, missing device and BT manager, a deliberate removed group policy editor (gpedit) but a proper reinstalled Cortana, Edge and all the other stuff MS cr*ps users lawn with.
    Hence I re-installed my former shutupped/winslapped and outbound firewall protected v10240 again but been left in the rain
    now when it comes to add simple addons from MS.

    There is no rason whatsoever a downloader or else shan’t run on even older version than mine, just the usual
    MS ignorance driven by complacency.

    Your sincerely
    Michael Damian