One of the most common windows used by technicians is the control panel window. A control panel is a method for configuring various Windows components. Each control panel icon represents a Windows utility that allows you to customize a particular part of the Windows environment. The number of control panels displayed depends on the type of computer and the components contained within the computer. Windows XP has two control panel views-classic and category. Figure XP-3 shows the Windows XP control panel category view.

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The following exercises will help familiarize you with several control panel categories. The goal of this exercise is to make you able to use the appropriate control panels to configure a mouse, keyboard, and enable disabilities options. A computer with Windows XP installed is required.

1. Turn on the computer and verify that the operating system loads.

2. Log on to Windows XP using the userid and password provided by the instructor or lab assistant.

3. Click on the Start button and select the Control Panel option. Pick a Category should display in the right window. If it does not, click on the Switch to Category View option in the left pane.