Sometimes the fastest way to access a program on your Windows system is via the command line.

I have to admit to being a little command line biased. I spent most of my early IT career managing Novell Netware environments and an assortment of FreeBSD and Linux systems from the command line, in addition to the ubiquitous Windows menagerie . Sometimes it is just quicker to click a quick key stroke (Windows Key+R), bring up Run and type the command for the application you want and bang it's open.

In this post I am going to focus on launching those Control Panel applets we all use but don't like having to click through all the menus to find or having to add shortcuts to our desktops for.

The majority of Control Panel applets are files with a .CPL file extension which are located in the %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32 folder (i.e.: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 for most people).

To open the "Network Connections" applet, just hold down the Windows Key while also pressing the R key. This launches the "Run" commmand, now type "control ncpa.cpl" in the Open field and press Enter

Viola! Application launched.

Here is a list of the Control Panel applets which you can use in the same way as my example above:

Accessibility Options - access.cpl

Add/Remove Programs - appwiz.cpl

Add Hardware Wizard - hdwwiz.cpl

Administrative Tools - admintools

Automatic Updates - wuaucpl.cpl

Bluetooth Properties - bthprops.cpl

Display Properties - desk.cpl

Fastfind Properties - findfast.cpl

Firewall Properties - firewall.cpl

Game Controllers - joy.cpl

Internet Options - inetcpl.cpl

iSCSI Initiator - iscsicpl.cpl

Java Control Panel - jpicpl32.cpl

Keyboard Properties - main.cpl keyboard

Licensing Model - iccpa.cpl

Mouse Properties - main.cpl

Network Connections - ncpa.cpl

Network Setup Wizard - netsetup.cpl

ODBC Properties - odbccp32.cpl

Power Options - powercfg.cpl

Regional and Language Options - intl.cpl

Scanners and Camera Properties - sticpl.cpl

Sound and Audio Devices - mmsys.cpl

Stored Passwords - keymgr.cpl

System Properties - sysdm.cpl

Telephone and Modem Properties - telephon.cpl

Time and Date Settings - timedate.cpl

User Accounts - nusrmgr.cpl

Windows Security Center - wscui.cpl

Wireless Link - irprops.cpl

** NOTE: If you don't have a wireless card for instance, the Wireless Link - irprops.cpl applet will not work for you, this holds true for any applet for which you don't have the necessary equipment etc.

Here is also a list of other commands for opening the Control Panel folders/applets without the .CPL extension as well:

Control Panel - panel

Desktop Properties - desktop

Desktop Appearances Properties - color

Fonts Folder - fonts

Infrared Properties - infrared

Printers Folder - printers

Schedule Tasks - schedtasks

User Accounts Advances - userpasswords2

User Passwords - userpasswords

Check out these links for some further command line fun:

http://commandwindows.com/runline.htm
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/itdojo/?p=947