abcdefg Posted March 7, 2012 at 08:47 AM Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 at 08:47 AM Background: I’m once again thinking of buying a new computer here in Kunming. Would buy an inexpensive laptop mainly for downloading and watching movies and TV series. Would leave that computer behind in Kunming and make it my “China computer.” My Chinese is not good enough to be able to use the computer all in the original Chinese. I would have to change the default system language to English. I’ve Googled some articles about doing this on a Win XP or Win7 machine. Seems straight forward. I would like to keep Chinese as a second language and switch back and forth as needed. For those of you who have done this, here’s what I’m wondering: Is it particularly difficult to get rid of unwanted “bloatware/crapware” on a new Chinese computer? Would I be better off wiping the machine and doing a clean install of the OS and essential programs? Are there any unusual problems or issues that I should be prepared for? Any other precautions you suggest I observe? Any difficulties you ran into that you wish you had known about in advance? Thanks much. Addendum: I did find a relevant thread from 2007 on the forum, but nothing more recent. http://www.chinese-f...ont-want-it-to/ BTW, I’m only average end-user computer savvy, not real “techy,” so I might not be up to doing fancy stuff that requires specialized knowledge or skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gato Posted March 7, 2012 at 09:12 AM Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 at 09:12 AM I think you need to buy an English version of Windows. The Chinese version of Windows only has Chinese and doesn't provide English menu titles and such. That thread you linked to is about installing third-party software in Windows. Some Chinese third-party software used to require a change in "locale" in Windows. What you are looking for is to have English for "native" programs in Windows itself. If you cannot find an English version of Windows, then you can also install an English language pack in a Windows 7 Ultimate Edition (regardless of what the original default language is). The language pack is not available for Home Edition of Windows 7, however. It appears that the Ultimate Edition is more than 2x as expensive as the regular Home Edition. I'd try to find a English version of Home Edition, if I were you. Btw, be sure to get genuine version of Windows installed on your system. Many systems sold in random shops in China have only a pirated version of Windows installed. You might run into problems for updates and bug fixes if you have a pirated version. http://www.360buy.co...uct/180000.html 微软（Microsoft）Windows 7旗舰版 (Ultimate Edition) http://windows.micro.../language-packs Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise can switch easily between 35 display languages http://www.sevenforu...-7-english.html Windows 7 - How do I change my Chinese Windows 7 to english? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted March 7, 2012 at 09:19 AM Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 at 09:19 AM With Windows XP, if you want to switch back and forth between languages it's a little tricky to do, you need to have what is known as the MUI pack for it to work (it doesn't work straight out of the box), and you may have difficulty finding the MUI these days. With Windows 7, depending on the version you have (Home, Professional, Ultimate, etc), you can set a secondary language in the regional settings of control panel. I forget which versions support this, so you might want to make sure you're getting the correct version before you purchase it. Is there that much bloatware/crapware that comes on a new Chinese computer? If there is, a reinstall is probably the easiest thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted March 7, 2012 at 12:53 PM Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 at 12:53 PM Very helpful replies @gato and @imron. I will pay close attention to what version of Windows is offered and make sure it is genuine. The machines I have looked at thus far all have Windows 7 (no more Win XP.) I don't really know if there is a lot of bloatware/crapware here. I know it's a real pain when buying a new computer in the US. I plan another shopping trip Friday to look at matters more closely. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yialanliu Posted March 8, 2012 at 07:58 AM Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 at 07:58 AM I currently use a secondary language Chinese for all my laptops but also have to use a dedicated computer that makes my primary language Chinese. For many programs in China, it requires the primary language to be Chiense in order to display the text. Even with NJStar and setting a secondary lnaguage, it does not seem to work. For instance, QQ Games (card games) seems to require this. Becuase of this, I have a dedicated computer for chinese programs. I am not sure how much chinese programs you run but if it's a lot, a secondary language might still not be enough. However, if you aren't that into it, then secondary language will definitely still prove useful and will be easier to use if you are not fluent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted March 8, 2012 at 02:02 PM Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 at 02:02 PM For many programs in China, it requires the primary language to be Chiense in order to display the text. I didn't know that. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted March 8, 2012 at 02:52 PM Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 at 02:52 PM I’m only average end-user computer savvy, not real “techy,” so I might not be up to doing fancy stuff that requires specialized knowledge or skills. This probably falls under the "techy" category, but I'll mention it anyway in case you (or someone else) wants to try it. Have you considered running Linux and installing Win7 under a KVM? More information on KVM here, but in summary it allows you to run win7 in a "sandbox" under Linux. You can even install multiple instances of the win7 OS, each different. So one can be Chinese, one can be English, one can be for a dicy program you need to install to view things, but don't really trust -- and because it is a separate KVM, it can't do anything to your main Linux OS or to any of the other win7 KVM you have installed. It takes a bit of work to setup -- basically, you run a command to create a space for it, then need to do a fresh install of the OS from scratch. But it might be something to consider. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestTexas Posted March 8, 2012 at 03:50 PM Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 at 03:50 PM Maybe someone already suggested this, but why don't you just ask them to change the language to English when you buy the computer? That's what I did when I bought my cellphone. A computer is a big purchase, so they should help you. Just tell them you are a foreigner and aren't going to be able to use a computer without English, hence you will not buy a computer if they don't change the language. Like I said, I did this for my cellphone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted March 8, 2012 at 09:22 PM Report Share Posted March 8, 2012 at 09:22 PM Cellphones are slightly different than a PC because cellphones usually have the built-in ability to swap languages. WIndows does not have that ability built in. For many programs in China, it requires the primary language to be Chiense in order to display the text. No it doesn't. It only requires the default language for non-unicode programs to be in Chinese. This is the default if Chinese is the primary language, but it can also be changed quite easily in the regional and language settings of the control panel if the primary language is something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yialanliu Posted March 9, 2012 at 01:09 AM Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 at 01:09 AM No it doesn't. It only requires the default language for non-unicode programs to be in Chinese. This is the default if Chinese is the primary language, but it can also be changed quite easily in the regional and language settings of the control panel if the primary language is something else. It doesn't always work for Vista and Win7 even with that setting. XP however is different and I think does work easily back in the day. Like I said, only slightly more obscure programs require this change. Xunlei doesn't for instance. I just never understood QQ Games would when it's super popular in China. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted March 9, 2012 at 04:23 AM Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 at 04:23 AM Works perfectly fine for me in English Win7, with the language for non-Unicode programs set to Chinese (see attached before and after images). Using English for non-Unicode programs Using Chinese for non-Unicode programs Like I said, only slightly more obscure programs require this change. Xunlei doesn't for instance. I just never understood QQ Games would when it's super popular in China. The reason comes down to the programmers, and whether they decide to make a Unicode application or just use whatever is the default language for their computer. Lazy programmers choose the latter option. Also, I guess being super popular in China means they probably don't care about the international market and can afford to just keep publishing GB encoded apps because most of their target audience will be running a Chinese version of Windows anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdefg Posted March 9, 2012 at 11:42 AM Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 at 11:42 AM Well, after looking around some today, I took the easy way out. The main problem I was trying to solve is that my current laptop does not have much hard disc space left and I didn't want to fill it up with lots of downloaded Chinese movies and TV series. So I bought a 500 GB external hard drive for about 500 RMB instead of a whole new computer for almost ten times that. Will see how it works. If it's not satisfactory, I may try to get my computer's hard drive swapped out for a larger one. Found a place that said they could do it. For what it's worth, I did find one shop that would do a clean install of Windows 7, English version, at no additional charge if I bought the machine from them. I would not have to buy the software discs myself, since they would be using a pirated copy belonging to a friend of a friend who had a software stall around the corner. (Every solution has drawbacks.) The Linux/KMV option sounds very interesting. Appreciate all the good advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted March 9, 2012 at 11:55 AM Report Share Posted March 9, 2012 at 11:55 AM The beauty of that solution is, you'll be able to take the external hard drive back to the states with you rather than leaving behind all that native content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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