The follow are some common Control Panel Applets. They are located in the \windows\system32 directory.

If you find yourself using any of these frequently, then you can simply make shortcuts to them on your desktop. Just go to control panel and right click on which one you want and choose shortcut.

You can also type these into the run window. (startmenu>run>then type) Or you can go to the control panel and click on what you want. If you can't find control panel in the start menu type it in the run window. It will come up.