How to type in Russian

Below is a guide for how to type in Cyrillic/Russian in Windows XP. This will allow you to type in Russian in programs you are running like Notepad or Microsoft Word and it will also allow you to type in Russian on internet browsers like Firefox or Internet Explorer.

First Method for Windows XP
1) Click on Start
2) Click on Control Panel
3) Then find and click on the Regional and Language Options
4) Then find and click the Languages tab at the top
5) Then find the area where it states as a heading "Text Services and Input Language"
6) Click on the Details tab
7) Click on the Add tab
8) Find the Input Language field (first one) and scroll down and select Russian
9) *

Second Method for Windows XP
1) Go to the Taskbar
2) Right click
3) Go up to the Toolbars
4) Select Language Bar, you should now have a EN visible on the Taskbar
5) Right click on the EN
6) Select Settings
7) Click on the Add tab
8) Find the Input Language field (first one) and scroll down and select Russian
9) *

* - In the Preferences section there are two tabs, Language Bar and Key Settings. It's best to leave the Key Settings as is. That means in order to switch between English and Russian all you have to do is press Left Shift and Alt. Pressing that will alternate between however many languages you have activated.

* - In the Language Bar tab you can select whether to have the Language Bar display on the taskbar. If you choose not to have the Language Bar display on the taskbar that's fine and you'll still be able to switch between English and Russian or however many languages you have activated. The only thing that will change is there will not be an EN or RU to show you what language you are in.

Russian Keyboard Layout

Below is an image of the layout of a Russian keyboard

Note: The image below is a general layout and will vary depending on your keyboard but the main order of the letters will probably stay the same.