Alternately, there's a shortcut to the Run application. win+r will bring the Run box to the top, and you can type cmd or cmd.exe in there and hit enter.

As for the control panel and program/hardware manager, in Windows 7 some things have been moved or consolidated and/or renamed. I can't say for sure how it is on versions besides Windows 7 Home Premium, but on that one the Control Panel is linked to in the start menu by default, and in the control panel there's a Programs and Features app that serves as the Add or Remove Hardware and Programs app, if memory serves.

Best of luck.

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Poster identified as either Songbob or Knitpick. -Joe Offer-