Setting Regional & Language Options

Since this is an international school we need to pay some attention to this topic otherwise you will have problems (wrong keyboard setting, using dots when the computer expects commas, etc). The good news is that once these settings have been adjusted you should not need to adjust them ever again.

This page assumes that you are usually working in English in your ICT lessons, and that you have Windows XP running in English and are using a Belgian French (AZERTY) keyboard. It also assumes that you are not so familiar with the QWERTY arrangement that you are able to type ‘blind’ (without looking at the keyboard). If you are able to type ‘blind’ with a QWERTY keyboard then you may choose to have the keyboard arrangement set to United Kingdom even when you are using a Belgian French keyboard.

Assuming the above assumptions are valid for you then here is the correct procedure to make sure that your computer’s regional and language settings are set up correctly:

  1. First close any open applications. If applications are open while you make these changes then once the changes have been made you could be confused about whether those applications are using the new settings or the old ones.
  2. Choose Start>Control Panel
  3. If you do not see the Regional And Language Options icon then press F5 to show the icon
  4. Double-click the Regional and Languages Option to open that dialog box. Click the Regional Options tab
  5. Set the Standards and Formats setting to English (United Kingdom). This affects things like how dates and currency appears.
  6. Leave the Location set to Belgium.
  7. Click the Languages tab
  8. In the Language dialog, click Details.
  9. This dialog is badly designed, for you probably will have to install a new language in the bottom section before you can set it as the default (automatic choice) in the top section. In the bottom section then (installed services), first check whether you have the possibility in working in English (Untied States) – if this language is installed then click it and remove it.
  10. It’s important to realise that in this ‘Installed Services’ section we can choose what language(s) we want to work AND we can specify separately what keyboards we might be using – it’s perfectly possible that we might be working in English but with a Belgian French keyboard – in fact this sheet assumes that this is your normal situation.
  11. Check whether the language ‘English (United Kingdom)’ is installed and also what keyboard arrangements you can use to type that language
  12. If the English (United Kingdom) language is not installed with both the United Kingdom keyboard arrangement and the Belgian French keyboard arrangement then click Add, otherwise jump to step 15.
  13. In the ‘Add Input Language’ dialog box, choose English (United Kingdom), then click the Keyboard Layout checkbox to check the box, then choose the keyboard layout that you want to add (Belgian French or United Kingdom). Click OK to return to the ‘Text Services and Input Languages’ dialog box.
  14. If necessary, repeat the previous step to ensure that you are able to type in English using either a Belgian French keyboard or a United Kingdom keyboard. This is important since some of our computer rooms have one kind of keyboard and some rooms have the other – you can’t assume you will always be in the same room.
  15. In the ‘Default Input Language’ section, set the default (the automatic choice) to be ‘English (United Kingdom) – Belgian French’ to indicate that you will normally be working in English but using a Belgian French keyboard. Note that the default choices are shown in bold in the ‘Installed Services’ section.
  16. Click OK and close the control panel.
  17. You may notice one or two relevant  icons in the task bar at the bottom of your screen:
    - the icon  indicates the current input language – left-click this icon to choose a different installed input language (if you don’t see the icon it probably means that only English is installed).
    - clicking this icon:  allows you to choose a different keyboard layout.
  18. Note that it is possible to expand these icons into a floating language bar if so desired.