Remove Unwanted Items From the Control Panel in Windows 7
Delete CPL Files
Have you ever opened the Control Panel in Windows 7 and thought there is no reason to have some of the icons listed? Today we take a look at how to remove unwanted or unneeded items from Control Panel in Windows 7.
Delete CPL Files
In this example we want to remove the Realtek HD Audio Manager because we have a new sound card and don’t use the integrated sound that came with it.
We can delete the CPL file associated with the icon. You will need to have administrator privileges so make sure you’re logged in as Admin. Then navigate to the following directory.
C:\Windows\System32
Once there instead of scrolling through everything to find what you need, simply type *.cpl into the Search field in Explorer. This is a “wildcard” search that will bring up all the CPL items in the directory.
This should easily allow you to scroll through and find the one you want to remove. For this instance it’s RTSnMg64.cpl for Realtek Sound Manager. You might want to backup the file or create a System Restore Point before deleting it.
After deleting the file you need to close out of Control Panel and when you open it back up, the item will be gone.
