Original Post
I use Microsoft IME for various languages on my computer. It works quite well on my computer, and it is quite convenient to use the short cut keys to switch between languages. I was recently asked by a friend to set up Japanese on her Windows XP machine. I installed IME with East Asian font support. It "works", but it is like her computer is completely possessed. Switching between the Japanese and English on her computer is totally bizarre and beyond any scope of logic. If you go from Japanese to English, it doesn't go to English but it goes to Japanese with Japanese input, so that when you type with a Western Keyboard, it is English. To go to English, you have to switch twice. Trying to use the hotkeys don't work either. When in Internet Explorer and I use the hotkey, ALT + SHIFT, the ALT key completely freaks out IE and it thinks I'm trying to access the menu, so it intercepts the SHIFT press and IME doesn't change languages. On my computer, testing it out in IE, it works fine. Outside of IE, the hotkeys get processed, but the behavior is like in the previous paragraph. To be honest, the computer needs some major overhaul. It is so slow and unresponsive; programs behave strangely; IE has about a million toolbars installed on it............ I have ran Ad Aware, and Spybot S&D, found and corrected thousands of issues, but the computer is still funky. I would like to suggest reinstalling Windows XP, but a). I don't know her well enough to suggest this, b). I don't really want to be responsible for doing it. So, long story short, I've installed and dealt with IME on many occassions, and have never seen this behavior, so it is definitely an issue on her computer. If I could get the IME working somewhat normally, I could be done with this. Any ideas? :(