Windows in Spain

[SpainColin]

Hi. I am moving to Spain soon and am starting to become worried. I have my system all set up properly and it works very well under Windows XP. My fear is that when I set up my system in Spain, their electrical supply is a different voltage and my Operating system may be affected. Has anyone got any experience of this?

Also, will my system all be in written in Spanish? I can't read Spanish and I don't want it to be rendered unusable.

[Boris]

Simple answer - No your Windows will not change to Spanish wording :)

Re. the electrics - I understand that electricity in Spain is 230 Volts, alternating at 50 cycles per second

Spanish plugs however only have 2 round pins rather than the rectangular 3 pin Earth/Live/Neutral in the UK

You may find this page :-

http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm

of use ?

[catgate]

I suggest that you think carefully about you ISP when you get to Spain.

I have friends and family living in Europe and it seems that the best way is to use the ISP for IE/Firefox buy to use the likes of Google mail or Yahoo mail for your emails.

I suppose it is a question of how lucky you are.

[SpainColin]

Simple answer - No your Windows will not change to Spanish wording :)

Re. the electrics - I understand that electricity in Spain is 230 Volts, alternating at 50 cycles per second

Spanish plugs however only have 2 round pins rather than the rectangular 3 pin Earth/Live/Neutral in the UK

You may find this page :-

http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm

of use ?

Boris, thank you so much for your reply. Are you absolutely sure that when my Laptop arrives in Spain it won't automatically convert to Spanish? I'm just a little worried that if it does, I won't be able to access the Internet to enable me to look up the necessary words to help me to translate what it is telling me.

Thanks for any help at all.

[Hb_Kai]

I've lived in Cyprus before and pretty sure this didn't happen and all my font changed to Greek. I think I would have noticed it if it did. :)

It only changes when you change it manually.

[SpainColin]

I've lived in Cyprus before and pretty sure this didn't happen and all my font changed the Greek. I think I would have noticed it if it did. :)

It only changes when you change it manually.

Hi, and thanks for your reply. To be honest, I think that Spain may be different from Cyprus though. I stayed in Murcia a couple of years ago (which is where I am now going to live) and I took my radio with me. I can assure you that ALL of the things I could hear had definitely been converted to Spanish. I really couldn't understand a single word from it in the 2 weeks that I stayed there.

[Hb_Kai]

Because you were listening to a spanish radio station. Absolutely nothing on your computer will change.

If you're still confused with this though:

Why would it change just because you've moved to a different country?

Do you really think there's something in the electricity that says if a computer is in english it will change to the language of the local country?

The only way I can think this would happen is through the internet. If this is so, then how are you going to update your computer to spanish if the computer's fonts have already been changed to spanish and you can't understand it?

Yes, Cyprus is a lot different from Spain but the important piece is still there. It's a foreign country but mine didn't change one bit. The only change you might see is what Boris said about the plugs. You may need to buy an adapter or new leads and you may even see that they have similar plugs to the english ones there and can use your current ones.

[SpainColin]

Because you were listening to a spanish radio station. Absolutely nothing on your computer will change.

If you're still confused with this though:

Why would it change just because you've moved to a different country?

Do you really think there's something in the electricity that says if a computer is in english it will change to the language of the local country?

The only way I can think this would happen is through the internet. If this is so, then how are you going to update your computer to spanish if the computer's fonts have already been changed to spanish and you can't understand it?

Yes, Cyprus is a lot different from Spain but the important piece is still there. It's a foreign country but mine didn't change one bit. The only change you might see is what Boris said about the plugs. You may need to buy an adapter or new leads and you may even see that they have similar plugs to the english ones there and can use your current ones.

Hi again, and thanks for trying to help me. No, my radio was definitely set to Radio 2 when I set off and by the time I arrived in Spain it was coming out in Spanish. I hadn't reset it at all, it was still on the exact same frequency!!! I do get your point about the plug though. The confusing thing here is the fact that it was running on batteries and it was STILL converted to Spanish.

Your point about "how are you going to update your computer to spanish if the computer's fonts have already been changed to spanish and you can't understand it?" is exactly what I mean. I am very worried that if this happens, my computer will effectively be useless to me. I paid a lot of money for it and would be devastated if this were to happen. Perhaps somebody else will be able to answer the question for both of us, as we both appear to be confused.

I am moving in just 12 days. I really don't think I'll be able to learn Spanish in less than two weeks, to save myself from this potential problem.

Does anyone know what I can do please?

[Boris]

It will definitely NOT change language all by itself :)

[catgate]

I think there is a way round your problem.

You do not say if you are travelling by car, boat or plane. However you will probably find that the facility you need will be available at your place of departure. The check in girls will know the exact place to go. There will be a portion of the ubiquitous "souvenir shop" devoted to Universal Converters. These, if you get a genuine one (watch out for counterfeits and fakes) will deal with all your conversion problems. Some of them are battery operated and some are mains operated and so you need to be sure of the voltage range in use at your destination. If in doubt get a battery operated one.

To use it, once you get there, simply plug it in and switch it to the country you are in by using the switch marked "Switch for Country". It will have on it a socket into which you can plug your computer. It will have in one side a slot into which you can feed British bank notes or coins (Marked "IN") and at the other side a slot (Marked "OUT" out of which will come notes and coins relative to the country to which you set the machine.

It will deal similarly with English words scribbled on scraps of paper.

A WORD OF WARNING If you do buy the battery operated model DO NOT CONNECT IT TO THE MAINS.

[Boris]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

- an "interesting" bit of advice - very current !