Microsoft reportedly sabotaged the Windows 95 and 98 Control Panel, or so it seems. Is this a worrying revelation?
- A possible intentional delay at the control panel has been found
- Presumably it was needed in the distant past as a temporary solution
- But it may not inspire confidence in those who encounter strange bugs in Windows 11
A spate of recent issues with the Windows 11 24H2 update has left many users frustrated with their systems, and it will likely come as no consolation to those people to hear that Microsoft has reportedly tampered with old Windows versions to make them slower work (albeit in the distant past, and with one relatively minor aspect).
As noted by the German tech site WinFuture (via New), Oerg866 posted on
In an effort to further speed up Windows 9x QuickInstall, I patched SYSDM.CPL to remove the hardcoded 8 second(!!!) delay when new hardware is found and reduced it to 300 milliseconds. pic.twitter.com/BfGNpSjMfwNovember 4, 2024
While it’s not at all clear why this is happening on the now age-old operating systems, it’s worth wondering why Microsoft decided to implement this delay.
It seems like a baffling move at first glance, but there’s probably a reason why programmers added the long pause (unless it was just a mistake – which seems unlikely, and it would be a complete blunder if it were).
What seems most likely is that the delay was introduced at the time due to hardware limitations, meaning there must have been some device issues at the time that required this pause as a workaround. However, why the delay had to take so long is a mystery.
It also makes you wonder if Microsoft has introduced any other similar slowdown tactics in these old versions of Windows – or even in more modern operating systems like Windows 10 or Windows 11.
Should we worry about the Control Panel in Windows 11?
It goes without saying that we no longer have to worry about Windows 9x versions (Windows 95 and 98 are older than me). There should also be no reason for a similar slowdown in Windows 11, unless it was truly a bug – which might beg the question: are there any more such blunders hanging around in the old Control Panel?
That thought wouldn’t exactly boost the confidence of someone currently using the 24H2 update and running into some of the aforementioned issues with the upgrade.
The numerous bugs associated with Windows 11 24H2 include issues causing PCs with Intel motherboards to experience BSODs (Blue Screen of Death crashes). Furthermore, quite a few of these glitches are genuinely strange things – like a File Explorer menu disappearing from the top of the screen – although not nearly as baffling as the reported hardcoded slowdown, mind you.
Of course, the old Control Panel won’t be around forever. Microsoft plans to gradually migrate the features of the old Control Panel to the new Settings app in Windows 11 with its modern user interface.
We reached out to Microsoft to ask the company about the discovered slowdown in Windows 95 and 98, and if the company could shed any light on what was going on behind the scenes here. We’ll be sure to update this story if we hear anything.