What just happened? The Control Panel has been an essential component of Microsoft Windows for decades, and was originally introduced in Windows 1.0 in the mid-80s. However, its days are numbered ...

The Control Panel feature has been around since Windows 1.0, but Microsoft plans to replace it with the more modern Settings app.

Microsoft isn't killing Windows Control Panel after all The 40-year-old tool still seems to have plenty of life left, though certain settings will continue to be deprecated.