For those who are multi-lingual, they may find a need to install programs on their computer that are localised in different languages.  While it is easy to go into the Windows language options and set a particular language for non-Unicode programs, this method does not work if more than one needs to run different non-Unicode programs in different languages.  That means, if one uses Traditional Chinese as the non-Unicode language, programs using Simplified Chinese will not display properly!

The following solution is proposed:

Use Microsoft AppLocale

Microsoft AppLocale allows running a program using a particular language without changing the Windows language setting.  That means, one can change between multiple languages on-the-fly for each program.

According to Microsoft:

Unicode based platforms, such as Windows XP, emulate the language environment required to run non-Unicode applications by internally converting application’s non-Unicode text data to Unicode using a system-wide variable commonly called the system local (or language for non-Unicode applications). The language of the non-Unicode applications should be of the same script or family as the one defined by the system locale. Failing to meet this condition results in display of garbage characters in the UI of the application.

Download link

Once downloaded, install and run it.  Follow the instructions and choose what program that is to be run at the wanted language.  If the correct language was chosen, the application should show the correct characters.