Ever felt stuck, looking for that pesky feature, option or setting that seems to elude you on purpose? Yes. We have been there too, until the happy discovery of a useful, old cheat which Microsoft has decided to bring back to Windows 10.
Introducing: GodMode
GodMode’s proper name is Windows Master Control Panel, and was first discovered in Windows Vista, back in 2007.
The Windows Master Control Panel provides access to what we can only assume as the entirety of the options available on Microsoft Windows, organized in a neat tree-folder view.
There are three simple ways to achieve enlightenment, er... activate the Master Control Panel.
The easiest one is to create a new folder anywhere, and rename it like so:
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Of course, “GodMode” is not a mandatory element of the string. If you’d rather go with JediMaster, Neo, CrashOverride, Tron or even something less nerdy, anything is fair game, as long as the folder name and the first bracket are separated by a period.
This will cause the new folder to change its appearance to resemble that of the system’s control panel, at which point, the shortcut can be copied anywhere we like, pinned to the taskbar, and in the taskbar menu.
Alternatively, we can also create a shortcut with the path:
explorer.exe shell:::{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
or we can create a Desktop.ini file in a folder with extension CLSID
When opening the folder, we discover a bird’s eye view of all our Windows settings, and access to all features in a pinch. Want to add an additional backup storage drive? Manage BitLocker? Perhaps you’d like to change timezone or edit group policies. All you need to do is either scroll through the tree view on the side panel, or type a keyword in the search box, to get instant access to the desired feature.
The question is: will the Windows Master Control Panel still be relevant in Windows 10? Considering the current progress in regard to default search features in Windows 10, the MCP might not be as relevant as it once was, especially to regular users, but it is doubtful that we’ll see the end of it, as it makes for a rather impressive Easter Egg, and one of the very few with a purpose that reaches beyond entertainment.