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Personal Tech

Solutions: Change languages with just a few clicks

Q. How can I simply enter text in a variety of languages on a Windows Vista Home Premium system with English as the default language? I could do it with an easy touch on the toolbar using my old Windows ME system. I can't find an applicable language pack to solve the problem.

By John Torro, Times Correspondent
Published February 4, 2008

Q. How can I simply enter text in a variety of languages on a Windows Vista Home Premium system with English as the default language? I could do it with an easy touch on the toolbar using my old Windows ME system. I can't find an applicable language pack to solve the problem.

A. This is easy, but like some other things in Microsoft's Vista, may be tough to find. Go to Control Panel and open Regional and Language Options. On the Keyboards and Languages tab, click the Change Keyboards button. This will open the Text Services and Input Languages window. Click the Add button and then select the various languages you want added. Click OK. This will by default install the Language bar on your Taskbar, where you can then easily click and select the different installed languages. In the Text Services and Input Languages window, there are tabs where you can alter the settings for the Language bar appearance and use.

Q. When I tried to turn off my eMachines PC running Windows XP after I had not even been on the Internet for about an hour, a message popped up. "Other people are logged on to this computer. Shutting down Windows might cause them to lose data. Do you want to continue shutting down?" I clicked "Yes." This has happened before when I've left my computer on idle for an hour or so. Are people hacking?

A. That's always a possibility. As usual, make sure your firewall is active and your antivirus application is up-to-date. But what is more likely is another user from your house is logged in. The next time you get this message, go to Switch User to see if another member of your family has a session running. If people on the outside are connected to any of your PC's resources, here's a quick way to check: Click Start, Run, type compmgmt.msc and click OK. This will open the computer management console where connected users will be listed under the Shared Folders/Sessions section.

Q.When accessing Internet Explorer, I get a message stating "limited or no connectivity." Someone told me my computer was corrupted. I know it's the PC and not the connection that's the problem because I have a laptop that's connected to the same line via router and works perfectly. What can I do?

A. If your desktop is using a wireless card to connect to the Internet, you may want to consider a new card or a range extender. Not all wireless cards are created equal. You get what you pay for and the difference between the low- and high-end versions can be significant in signal strength and noise. If you are connected by a patch cable to your router, try a different patch cable. It is possible, but unlikely, that your network card is faulty. There is no real way to tell this other than trying another card that you know works.

Send questions to personaltech@sptimes.com m or Personal Tech, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Questions are answered only in this column.

[Last modified February 1, 2008, 21:22:46]