Object Inspectors and Settings Editors

You'll see two types of inspector windows in Max.

The object inspector is used to edit the attributes of objects that live in patchers. It has colored rows and tabs.
Settings editors include the preferences window and patcher inspector. These windows have less colorful striped rows and gray tabs.

The two types of inspectors work similarly. You edit settings and attributes in the same way. But one important difference is that the object inspector window content updates to reflect the current selection of a patcher window. This allows you to leave the object inspector window open while working in a patcher. The content of a settings editor is not affected by a change in what is selected.