# Removing Asian suport from Windows/Office XP

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-asian-suport-from-windows-office-xp/176756>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 22, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-asian-suport-from-windows-office-xp/176756 "2003-05-22T05:58:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-asian-suport-from-windows-office-xp/176756/1 "2003-05-22T05:58:58Z")

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Recently I needed to borrow someone’s Windows XP system to check my mail. Turns out I had some important mail in Japanese so I had to add Asian language support to the system. I didn’t think it was a big deal, but apparently it also modified the behavior of Office XP. Now I have to fix the changes, and do it remotely over the phone!

I think I know how to remove it from Windows itself (just go back to the Region & Language dialog box in Control Panel and uncheck the “Install East Asian language support”, right?) but will that also reverse the changes made to Office XP?

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**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-asian-suport-from-windows-office-xp/176756/2 "2003-05-22T13:44:11Z")

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Microsoft’s help recommends the following:

> [@](#):
>
> 1. On the Microsoft Windows **Start** menu, point to **Programs** , point to **Microsoft Office Tools** , and then click **Microsoft Office XP Language Settings**.
> 
> 2. Click the **Enabled Languages** tab.
> 
> 3. In the **Enabled languages** box, select the language that you want to remove, and then click **Remove**.
> 
> 4. Repeat step 3 for each language you want to remove.

If that doesn’t work, go to **Add/Remove Programs** in Control Panel. Select Office XP, hit **Change** , hit **Add or Remove Features** , **Next** , expand **Office Shared Features** , and expand **International Support**. Click the dropdown box for each unwanted language and change the setting to **Not Available**.