Yesterday, when I was helping a customer with his computer, he watched as I went to the Control Panel in Windows 10. I then went to Programs and Features and removed a program. My customer said, “I looked all over for the Control Panel and couldn’t find it. I could always get to it in Windows 7!”

It’s true, in Windows 7 (and earlier versions), you could find the Control Panel on the Start Menu. And, even in Windows 8 and 8.1, if you right-clicked on the Start Menu, you’d see the Control Panel listed.

Not so in Windows 10. The start menu – left or right-click – doesn’t show a hint that there’s a Control Panel available. Still, it’s there and actually easy to find. Just go to the search field on the task bar and type in “control panel.” The Control Panel will then appear at the top of the search results and you simply click on that. Voilà! The Control Panel opens up. (Truth be told, you usually don’t even have to type the entire phrase “control panel” before it appears at the top. Since I go to it often, I only have to type the letter “c” and it is there.)

But wait! What if you’ve changed from the default Windows 10 settings and the search field doesn’t appear down in the task bar? There are two other ways you can use search to get to the Control Panel: 1) right-click on the Start Menu and near the bottom you will see Search. Click on Search and follow the instructions in the previous paragraph; 2) ask Cortana “search for the Control Panel.” She will respond, “Which Control Panel do you want to open, Control Panel or Settings?” Respond “Control Panel” and she will open the Control Panel for you.

Regardless of which way you get to the Control Panel, you’ll have access to all the familiar options just like you had in previous versions of Windows. Panel.