Persian Localization of Windows Computers - 2003-05-21

The term 'Windows computers' refers to computers that have one of Microsoft's operating system versions installed, which constitutes the majority of computers that users work with. For several years, computer professionals around the world have tried to enable computers to correctly display various languages and scripts in a readable format for users through a standard called Unicode (UTF-8 or UTF-7). Unfortunately, due to political and economic reasons beyond this discussion, Microsoft, which dominates the market, has not seriously worked on a Persian Unicode standard and has created a mixture by manipulating Arabic and Urdu fonts that, despite its ugliness, somewhat facilitates the work of Iranian users. Others have also attempted to offer different Persian fonts and localization systems, but due to the lack of a unified standard, they did not work properly on all computers and systems. At least concerning the Persian pages of Voice of America, if any of the following fonts, which are certainly present on Windows, are available on the computer, our pages should open: Nesf, Arial, Times New Roman, Tahoma, Arabic Typesetting. To see what fonts you have: My Computer/ Control Panel/ Fonts. With this brief introduction, here are some tips for performing localization or 'localizing' the Windows operating system. With the warning that even after following these instructions, your computer may not be fully Persianized and may not be able to read some Persian pages, especially emails. Because the email issue, aside from the font issue, also depends on other matters, such as Mime and the configuration of carrier servers, which we will address separately in another article. In Windows 98 and 2000, click in the following order: My Computer/ Control Panel/ Regional Options. In the dropdown that says: Your local (location), if you click on the right triangle of the dropdown, you should see Farsi in the list of languages. In the lower box: Language Settings for the System, you should also see Arabic and Farsi. Look again at the top of this page. You will see Input locals. After clicking on it, you will see input language or methods or Installed input locals. There, you should also see Farsi. If it is not there, press the Add or Change button. A window with two dropdowns will open, named Add Input local. Click on the right triangle and select Farsi from the list of languages. By clicking on it and then O.K, it will be added. The process is the same in Windows XP, although the names may differ: Control Panel/ languages/ Text Service and input languages/ Details / Settings/ Default input languages. You should also see Farsi here; however, you do not have to click on it because the default language means the language that, when the computer starts, you see its sign as EN or if it has been changed to Persian, FA, at the top or bottom of the computer, and you can change the language and keyboard layout by clicking on the sign.