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Regional Settings Sorted

Isn't Windows XP wonderful? It is, except for one thing. It can be a pain to force XP to accept that you live anywhere except the USA ...especially if you ran the installation as an upgrade from a previous Windows version.

The wrong region means invalid currencies and incorrect keyboard layouts.

Do I need to worry?

Fire up a word processor or Notepad and hit Shift-2 (yes, type quote marks). If you don't get quote marks (you'll might get an @), then you need to follow this article.

Set your region

These steps assume Windows XP. Other versions will differ, although most settings will be similarly named. The steps also assume you live in the UK . If you don't, then choose your own country when I refer to UK.

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Switch to Classic View using the option near the top-left (in the task pane)
  3. Double-click on Regional Settings
  4. Three tabs...on the first, make sure the two drop-down lists have United Kingdom selected. Click Apply if you need to save.
  5. On the next tab (Languages), click Details.
  6. If the drop-down list shows English (United Kingdom) - United Kingdom and there's no mention of the US on that page, move to step 11.
  7. Click Add .
  8. Under Input Language, choose English (United Kingdom) and click OK
  9. Choose English (United Kingdom) - United Kingdom in the drop-down box at the top of the page
  10. Click on the reference to the US in the box below and click Remove. Answer Yes if prompted. Click Apply, and click OK if you receive a warning.
  11. Click OK in the Text Services and Input Languages dialog.
  12. On the next tab (Advanced), verify that English (United Kingdom) is selected in the drop-down box.
  13. Click OK.

Restart

I strongly recommend that once complete, you restart your computer if you made any changes. Until then, you'll have odd or unusual keyboard behaviour. Chances are, some computers will ask you to restart after step 13, anyway.

Author: Rob Church