Fixing computer in foreign language

[lassenpc]

A client came in the other day with a laptop and said there was a virus on it, can we fix it? "Sure!" we replied. Then we turned it on. The client (and the laptop) are from China, and everything on the Windows XP Home laptop (with the exception of the BIOS) was in Chinese.

Even with that little bit of wind sucked out of the sail, I told him we could still fix it, but it might take an extra day. Client leaves, myself and other techs are watching things pop up on the screen (at least the icons are the same!) and going "OK, that's an error - but... what one?!?"

Went through the 'normal' cleaning techniques (manual removal was out of the question as again, even most file names in Chinese); ran CF, MBAM, installed AV prog, cleared out all temp locations, etc; CHKDSK /r had serious issues, ran DFT, discovered not only that he had virus issues, the HDD was on its was out, replaced. During the entire process (since even the programs we were installing were running in Chinese) we had to occasionally reference a separate English PC to see exactly where we were at / what should we be clicking on for the next step.

Happy to report that everything is working great now; well, as far as I can tell. IE is working, the event logs are clean, and no pop ups or redirects. So the question is, was there an easier way to do this?

[arrow_runner]

It's so funny that you just posted this. I have a Japanese laptop w/ virus on my bench right now. I took 2 years Jap in high school though, so I can at least read some of the Katakana words.

[seedubya]

I've installed Windows 98 on three PCs lately, in Cantonese! Bloody awful job. Till system for a local Chinese restaurant. I had to find an old 98 pc and put it on the bench alongside and keep referring to the English system for hints.

[PC Ops]

OMG Chinese... Nope, no faster way. A reference pc is the way to go. See also this thread

I vote AYE for worldwide english os'

[parker.casey]

I had somebody come in with a German laptop once ... but, that really wasn't a problem. As long as you know the OS well enough.

[PC Ops]

Originally Posted by parker.casey

I had somebody come in with a German laptop once ... but, that really wasn't a problem. As long as you know the OS well enough.

I agree but there's a heck of a difference between german (pretty much the same alphabet) and chinese

[seedubya]

I've done French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Romanian, Polish and Ukrainian too. We have (well had) a lot of immigrant workers here. Just standard repairs, viruses etc. The first four were quite easy, same alphabet, similar words etc. Romanian and Polish were difficult and Ukrainian even more so (Cyrillic alphabet). But with a reference PC and Google Translate you're sorted.

[Vicenarian]

I think, with Vista anyway, there's something called Vistalizator...it's supposed to change the language...but I haven't even tried messing with it yet. I should though.

[parker.casey]

Originally Posted by PC Ops

I agree but there's a heck of a difference between german (pretty much the same alphabet) and chinese

True that, brothaman.