I stumbled upon this yesterday whilst looking for something completely different...
In windows 7 and vista you can activate a hidden 'god mode' which creates a desktop control panel giving you direct access to many useful features.
To activate this feature, create a new folder on your desktop and rename it to:
{code}GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}{/code}
The folder icon will then change to this 
Double click on the icon and then you'll be presented with your windows 'master panel'
This has been tested on windows 7 and vista 32-bit, apparently it cas cause the system to crash on vista 64-bit so be careful.