ApRpmed

More... My friend's tower is Compaq/HP - does that make it a "tier-one" system. I think that he bought the tower used and that the EALP was added afterwards. How can we tell if it was shipped or built with a default non-English OS? Can we check the "service number" to see if it lists OS as well as hardware components? How and where can we find the "service number"?

I am writing for my friend, whose system is XP SP3. He has the East Asian Language Pack installed and now wants it off of his system. Is this even possible? I've done a LOT of searching for him and the consensus seems to be that removing it is next to impossible. We've already gone into Regional and Language Options (RLO) > Text Services and Input Languages > Details > Settings and selected English (United States) - US as the Default input language. Additionally, under Installed services we have removed Japanese, Chinese, Korean and, I believe, Thai (clicked Apply after removing 'em). We then went to RLO > Advanced and in the Code page conversion tables we have UNchecked Japanese, Chinese, Korean and, I believe, Thai. Last, in RLO > Languages > Supplemental language support we have UNchecked "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)" and "Install files for East Asian languages." The problem that we are having is that when new programs are added to his machine, e.g. Auslogics' Disk Defrag, ZoneAlarm free firewall, Spyware Doctor, the GUI for the programs is rendered in Japanese/Chinese characters. Previously, I have completely uninstalled Auslogics DD with the Revo Uninstaller in Advanced mode and then did a new install from Download.com, being careful to check English as the language, and the GUI is 99% Japanese/Chinese characters. With ZoneAlarm the Main page screen is rendered almost completely in "????????'s"!! Where is the East Asian Language Pack typically installed on an XP system? Are there certain file names that we can look for? Can (or should) we simply reinstall XP (he has a recovery disc that he burned but I think that it may have the Language Pack already on it)?