Control Panel Seems to Load Slowly in Windows 95/98 (128702)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 95
  • Microsoft Windows 98

This article was previously published under Q128702

SYMPTOMS

When you double-click a desktop shortcut linked to CONTROL.EXE to start Control Panel, there is a 60- to 90-second delay with intense hard disk activity before Control Panel appears.

CAUSE

The CONTROL.EXE program was designed to be used with a shell component such as Program Manager or File Manager from a previous version of Windows. When you are using Windows Explorer as the shell in Windows 95/98, starting CONTROL.EXE reloads much of the Windows 95/98 shell components, resulting in a delay.

RESOLUTION

To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods.

Method 1

Start Control Panel from My Computer instead of from the shortcut to CONTROL.EXE. To start Control Panel from My Computer, double-click My Computer on the desktop, then double-click Control Panel.

Method 2

Create a shortcut to Control Panel from the Control Panel icon in My Computer. To do so, follow these steps:
  1. Double-click My Computer.
  2. Drag the Control Panel icon from My Computer to the desktop.
  3. When you are prompted whether you want to create a shortcut, click Yes.
Double-click this shortcut to start Control Panel.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:12/16/2004
Keywords:kbprb kbui KB128702