In this panel, you have the option to disable the whole footer widget area without having to remove the active widgets. This option applies globally.
There are also separate options for each Footer Widget area where you can disable it globally [First Widget Area], select the width of the section [First Widget Width] and select the text alignment [First Widget Text Align].
How to edit the footer area. To be able to make changes to the footer, you should first locate the exact theme areas and adjust the right elements.