David Dawes asked ... How to recoil the starter spring - Champion R484TR?    |    peter high asked ... How can I set time on my Neff oven?    |    Michael asked ... Mountfield empress drive belt?    |    John Barton asked ... How do i clear the TAM?    |    John asked ... How can I mend my binatone veva 1210 handset?    |    Click here to ask your question

How do I change the language on my notebook?

I bought a notebook in a Spanish shop and I need to change the language to English. Can I go back to factory settings and change it there.
Colin, November 2012
If Windows was initialy installed in Spanish, reverting to factory settings will revert to Spanish, even after installing an English language pack.

Does it run Windows 7?
If that's the case, open Windows updates.
Look for the optional or facultative updates. This will make the language packs visible.
Find your language and sellect it. Click the OK button.
Click the install button. You'll need to wait some time and may need to restart the system.
It's also available via the Regions and languages modul bellow. It may be easier if you can't find the correct location.

Next, in the controll pannel, look for "Regionas..." or something similar. (I don't have the Spanish version available, but in French, it's "Région et langue")
In the first tab, sellect your language and country.
In the second tab, sellect your country.
In the third tab, click the TOP tab. Chose the keyboard configuration you want. You can also remove the spanish one after your next restart.
Use the whide drop button to sellect the display language.
In the fourth (last) tab, use the top button to copy your chosen parameters so that they will be used in the welcome screen (top check box) and for the new profiles you may want to create (bottom check box).

Always restart the computer if asked after any of the steps.

I've done that procedure to go from English to French on two computers.

It should be similar under Windows 8.
It may also work under Windows Vista. (I've never used Vista)

This procedure is NOT AVAILABLE under Windows XP. In this case, you need to find a language pack, probably via some torrent site, burn it to a CD-R, and boot with it. Search for "Windows XP language pack".

In the unlikely case where you are stuck with some older OS, your only option will be to reinstall from scatch.

Electro, November 2012