There are various ways to switch the keyboard layout on your computer. However, for novice users, simply switching the keyboard to Russian can cause some difficulties. To solve this problem, you can try different ways to change the language and choose the most convenient one.
Instructions
Step 1
The easiest way to switch your keyboard to Russian is with one click. Move the mouse cursor over the taskbar (the bar with icons at the bottom of the screen) and click on En (English). In the window that appears, move the mouse cursor over the inscription "Ru Russian (Russia)" and click on it. The selected language will be marked with a tick in the list of languages, and Ru will appear on the taskbar instead of En.
Step 2
Another way is to use a combination of "hot" keys: Ctrl + Shift, Ctrl + Alt or Shift (on the left side of the keyboard) + Shift (on the right side). Which keys you need to press to change the layout depends on your PC model and installed OS, or on individual user settings.
Step 3
Press the keyboard layout keys alternately Ctrl and Shift while holding them. If the icon on the taskbar has changed from En (English) to Ru (Russian), then this key combination should be used to switch the keyboard layout to Russian. If not, press the next combination. A little skill - and you can press hot keys automatically, without looking at the keyboard.
Step 4
If the default keyboard shortcut on your computer does not suit you, you can assign your own shortcut in User Preferences. To do this, go to the "Start" menu -> "Control Panel".
Step 5
If you are a Windows XP user, select Regional and Language Options in the opened window. Then select the "Language & Keyboards" tab and click on the "Change Keyboard" button.
Step 6
If your computer is running Windows 7, in Control Panel, under Clock, Language, and Region, select Change Keyboard Layout or Other Input Methods.
Step 7
In the window that appears, open the "Keyboards and Languages" tab, and then click on the "Change keyboard" button. This will open another window - "Language and text input services".
Step 8
On the Switch Keyboard tab, select Switch Input Language. Then click the Change Keyboard Shortcut button.
Step 9
In the opened window "Change keyboard shortcuts" in the left column "Change input language" select the option you like to switch the keyboard to Russian.
Step 10
To automatically switch the keyboard to Russian, you can download the Punto Switcher program. This program can be downloaded for free, it has a fairly easy interface. If you mistakenly entered a word or sentence in Latin instead of a Cyrillic font (i.e. instead of a word in Russian, you got a set of English letters), the Punto Switcher program will automatically change the language to Russian (and vice versa). Also in this program, you can independently configure the "hot" keys to change the layout.
