In System 7, control panels open as though they were applications. Just double-click their icons, and you have access to the control panel you want.
An alias for the Control Panels folder is in the Apple Menu Items folder, making the control panels even easier to use. The alias in the Apple menu also provides interface compatibility for System 6.0.x users. You can have more than one Control Panel open at the same time.
To install a new control panel, simply drag its icon onto the System Folder icon. It will automatically be put into the Control Panels folder. (You
can move control panels directly to the Control Panels folder yourself, of course.) Control panels can be put anywhere for quick access: on the desktop, in a folder, in the Apple menu, and so on. But if a control panel has INIT code that needs to be loaded at startup, it must be in the System Folder or the Control Panels folder.
Some functions that once were adjustable only with ResEdit, can now be modified by control panels. The settings you can adjust in the control panels include, but are not limited to:
- Font and type size used by the Finder for icon names
- Icon size and attributes listed in list views
- Icon layout in icon views
- Memory control
- Pattern and colors of the desktop
- Date, time, and display of time
- Speaker volume and alert sound
- Relative distance the pointer moves on screen when you move the mouse
- Relative positions of multiple monitors
- Number of colors or shades of gray displayed
- Disk drive to be used for startup (startup volume)
- Label names and colors available for icons
- Special aids for using the keyboard and mouse
- File sharing setup and program-to-program connections
(available to Macintosh computers on a network)
- Remote user access