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June 12, 2006 11:10 AM

Windows XP Language Bar -- is this really as useless as it seems?

I have a computer that I need to share with somebody else. I use Dvorak, he uses Qwerty. Fortunately -- or so I thought -- Windows has a "Language Bar" that can be used to switch between the two. Genius! Or, it would be if any thought whatever were put into it...

See, the switch appears to have exactly two scopes: system and application. That is, you can set up a system default, or you can switch for a single application. What you can't do, as far as I can tell, is set up a user default. So one of us is going to have to manually switch the keyboard layout every time he opens a new application.

Am I missing something? This seems bad, even for Microsoft.

posted by bjrubble to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Best answer: You could add new user accounts — each account would have its own preferences and keyboard layout. You can switch between multiple users in Windows XP very easily.
posted by Mr. Six at 11:22 AM on June 12, 2006

Response by poster: D'oh! So they do. I obviously screwed something up when trying this, because it seemed (and the Control Panel language appeared to indicate) that the keyboard preferences were not user-specific.

Consider the "idocy" tag to apply to this post, rather than its subject...
posted by bjrubble at 11:58 AM on June 12, 2006

I suspect the Dvorak guy would have to learn how to login using QWERTY, however, since the account-specific keyboard layout choice would only kick in after the login had succeeded.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 1:36 PM on June 12, 2006

No, he'd have to learn to ignore the lettering on the keys, and type his password as if it were a Dvorak keyboard.

Not only doesn't he have to learn a new keyboard, his password becomes considerably more secure!
posted by five fresh fish at 3:10 PM on June 12, 2006