When Thai is the default

HELP DESK

When Thai is the default

My husband and I recently bought a new desktop PC which was loaded with Windows XP in both Thai and English. The problem is that when loading the Canon Printer driver, Nero and several others they all load up in Thai!

My husband cannot read Thai and although one can put up with it, is there any way to make these programs load in English. With our old computer which also had XP, they all loaded in English with no problem. We would be grateful for your advice if there is a way to overcome this difficulty.

WANPEN
Suphan Buri

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: The likely cause of all this is that Windows has been installed and set up with Thai as the dominant language. In Windows XP, this setting is handled through the Control Panel, Regional and Language Options.

For optimal use in English, the first tab on this setting (Regional Options) should be set to English (United States).

Then, if you wish, under the Languages tab you can Install files for East Asian Languages (which probably has been done) and under the Advanced tab, you can either remove all the other languages or (what I do) set Thai as the primary Language for non-Unicode programs.

If you keep Thai as the second language, then there will be no problem using the computer as bilingual or all-Thai. You will also have the option of showing the Language bar down near the right-hand bottom of the screen. Click on an empty part of the taskbar down at the bottom, choose Toolbars, then Language bar. This way, if necessary, you can click between Thai and English.

Note that this only affects Windows, however. Most programs have a mind of their own. That is what you want here, because if you want programs to have English displays, they will stay that way even if you select Thai on the Language bar.

Now that you have installed all those programs and controls, getting them back to English could be a problem. Some of them have settings for language preference. You will have to handle this for your husband if you want to try this, because sometimes it is tricky to select the proper choice. But some of the programs have merely installed themselves with Thai menus because they "saw" that it was a Thai computer. You probably can uninstall these programs completely and then, with the computer reset and working properly in full English language mode, reinstall them.

Gmail for Loxinfo mail

I am having a problem setting up my account in Google Mail to receive my Loxinfo email. It is the older version of dialup Loxinfo with different incoming and outgoing pop and SMTP settings and not the later Csloxinfo.

I have set up my other email address at Westnet in Australia and it receives my emails just fine, where outgoing and incoming settings are the same, and I want to get Loxinfo to receive as well into my Gmail.

Would you be able to kindly advise me how to do this as I am being inundated with spam when I download Loxinfo mail to Thunderbird.

Very grateful for suggestions and I never miss the Post Database as it has given so many useful tips and suggestions over the nearly 10 years of reading.

KEITH CHAPMAN

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: Google mail can be set up to retrieve email from some other email accounts. There are a number of advantages to this, particularly if you want to use Gmail as your main email account.

Gmail will only import a maximum of five other accounts, and they must meet certain specifications. With exceptions, they pretty much have to be POP3 accounts, and of course you must have all the required information about those accounts including login, password, and the precise settings of your POP server including the port number. You do not need the SMTP settings for this exercise, as Gmail will send all your mail. If you are already downloading mail to an email client such as Outlook or Eudora, that client will have the information you need about the POP server and port.

At the mail Gmail page, click on Settings, then on the Accounts tab. Now click on Add another mail account. A Gmail wizard will walk you through the process, which begins when you enter the email address of the outside account.

There is no guarantee this will work. Retrieving email is limited both on the Gmail end and on the remote end, in your case Loxley.

Gmail will allow you to adapt the "from:" line in outgoing email. But watch carefully during the setup, because it also will allow you to set the address line of incoming messages so you can determine what, exactly, is from your Loxley account. Look for the Label incoming messages option as you use the setup wizard.

Problems accessing site

Wanda Sloan's article Easy Video Downloading interested me but sadly when I attempted to bring up http://www.vdownloader.es, it repeatedly came up with "status 403 Forbidden".

COLIN MASSEY

Database replies: Wanda Sloan replies: When I last checked, the downloading site appears to have been suspended for being too popular but you should be able to download VDownloader from:

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/VDownloader-Download-51327.html