1. A method of installing and configuring a thermostat for controlling a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system wherein the thermostat is configured to control different types of HVAC system components, the method comprising: determining identities of a first subset of a plurality of HVAC connectors into which corresponding HVAC wires have been inserted, wherein the plurality of HVAC connectors are configured to receive a corresponding plurality of HVAC control wires corresponding to the HVAC system, each HVAC connector having an identifier that identifies one or more HVAC functionalities associated with that HVAC connector; selecting and displaying a first user inquiry to a user presented on a user interface comprising an electronic display disposed within a housing of the thermostat, the first user inquiry selected from a group of user inquires each of which requests information regarding a type of system component to be controlled by the thermostat, and the selection of the first inquiry being based at least in part on the determined identities of the first subset of the plurality of HVAC connectors into which corresponding HVAC wires have been inserted, said selecting and displaying being performed at least in part by a processing system disposed within the housing of the thermostat and coupled to the user interface, the processing system being configured to be in operative communication with one or more temperature sensors for determining an ambient air temperature, in operative communication with one or more input devices including said user interface, and still in further operative communication with the HVAC system to control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of a measured ambient temperature and a setpoint temperature value; allowing the user, in response to the displayed first inquiry, to select between at least two types of system components to be controlled by the HVAC controller; accepting a first selection by the user using the user interface, the selection identifying a type of system component to be controlled by the HVAC controller; using the processing system to modify configuration information of the thermostat based at least in part on the first selection; and using the modified configuration information of the thermostat when controlling one or more HVAC system components of the HVAC system by the processing system.