title: Language for non-unicode programs and registry settings
body: <p>Windows XP has a "Current language for non-Unicode programs" option in the Control Panel / Region and Language Settings.</p>
  
  <p>One can use this to get non-unicode programs to respond to the selected language.</p>
  
  <p>However there are some programs that don't respond to this setting and instead need <a href="http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/data/chgis/downloads/v4/howto/cyrillic.html" rel="nofollow">registry changes</a> to work. The registry change redirects the current language to another language.</p>
  
  <p>Why do some programs respond to the First method (Control Panel) and others respond to the second (Registry). What is the underlying difference in code ? Which calls/compile options can I expect to find in either kind of application?</p>
  
  <p>If I had to convert one type of application (the one that responds to registry settings) to a program that used the Control Panel settings - what code changes are needed?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks.</p>