Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

When I visit Chinese and Japanese Websites, I'm prompted to install a foreign language pack. Clicking on the install button asks me to insert a Windows CD but my computer didn't come with a CD. I can't read the characters, but the square boxes are annoying. What can I do?

If your computer didn't come with a Windows installation disk, then the installation files are likely on the hard drive on a second partition (if your primary partition is C: this is likely D:). You general find the language files in the i386 folder on that second partition. If you happen to have Office XP or Office 2003, you can install the additional languages from the Microsoft Office install disk. If that doesn't work, you can download individual language files for the sites you frequently visit.

Microsoft makes language files available in one of two ways. You can download language packs associated with Office XP to universally use Chinese, Japanese and Korean characters in both IE and throughout applications that require language installations.

The Global IME for Windows will work in most cases, unless you have Office XP or newer installed on your system. IME stands for Input Method Editor, which allows you to switch between languages in applications which support IME functionality. Online, this means you'll get actual kanji or hanzi instead of square boxes. For computers with Office XP installed, you need to download the Office XP IME for the specific language you need.