CertiGuide to A+ (A+ 4 Real)  9  Chapter 1: What are Operating Systems and How Do They Work?       9  Operating System Features            9  The Control Panel

The Control Panel 1 2 3 Power Management

Regional Options

To configure further localization options, the “Regional Options” applet is used.

Double clicking on this applet shows the dialog in Figure 62.

There are two important tabs in this dialog. The first is the “General” tab, which affects overall system “locality”. This is how Windows and other third party applications determine where in the world you are located, and thus can use your traditional display options for currency, date and time format and other unique conventions. Note that the options configured here apply to your user account only; brand new user accounts are automatically given the system default. This is an important fact to consider when troubleshooting. Many applications use the system default locale rather than the current locale to determine display options.

An example of this type of application is Internet Information Server, commonly referred to as IIS. This may not seem a major issue, however consider a machine built in the USA and shipped to the UK. Whilst new users can configure their regional settings to be UK specific, IIS will always use the system default locale specified at installation time – USA. This has an annoying side effect that the date and time format displayed in all websites is technically incorrect for UK conventions. To resolve this issue, you can alter the system default locale from the General tab. Click the “Set Default” button and choose the appropriate locale for the system default. Bear this in mind – this author sees a number of web developers every year that get confused by this distinction!

The Control Panel 1 2 3 Power Management