Control panel

A control panel (CDEV) is an item under System 7 (until, but not including, Mac OS X) which lets Macintosh users adjust system preferences and settings. Some control panels contain code that is loaded at startup, like a system extension.

Unlike the Control Panel desk accessory of System 6 and earlier, control panels under System 7 and all subsequent versions of the Classic Mac OS are stored in their own Control Panels subdirectory and are opened in separate windows.

As of Mac OS 7.6, some control panels have actually become mini-applications in their own right. These are the so-called APPC control panels.

Under Mac OS X, System Preferences replaced the control panels. Control panels from Mac OS 9.x can, however, still be used (with some restrictions) under the Classic environment until Mac OS X 10.4.11.