A hosting control panel is a group of tools which you can access from a web browser to manage your online content. Since you will get a graphic point-and-click interface, you'll be able to use these tools to do various tasks easier than if you need to type complex commands inside a command line. All control panels allow you to do some basic things such as controlling your files, e-mail addresses and databases or opening logs and stats, but some of them are much easier to use than others and contain more attributes that could save you time and efforts. In this light, the control panel that you'll receive with a new web hosting account can make a difference, which means that you should check it and see whether it'll meet your requirements before you get the service.