Optimizing your PC

So I thought I'd share some tips on how to optimize your Japanese learning experience. If you got some more, please share them with us!

Note: My tips are based on a Windows XP system using Firefox.

1. Firefox addons
Browsing Japanese sites, looking up dictionaries etc. can be easier for you with the use of addons.
1.1. Rikaichan:
Rikaichan is a powerful tooltip dictionary for Firefox. With it you can understand many Japanese sites without knowing the kanjis. I recommend using Kanji Convert with it, so that you learn the pronounciation along. Note that Kanji Convert is not always correct, but with rikaichan's help you should get everything right.
Download it and the dictionary you need here.

Note that I have the German dictionary installed ;)

1.2. Hyperwords:
Another good addon would be Hyperwords, though I didn't try it yet. It has some quite cool functionalities, they are shown in this video.
You can download it here.

2. Handling Japanese data
2.1. UNICODE:
On western systems, most tools like archivers, picture viewers etc. come with ASCII-support only. To understand Japanese data (e.g. kanji file names) however, you need UNICODE-support. You can get many tools as UNICODE versions right from their site, so look for them! If there aren't any, read on for tip 2.2. ;)

2.2. AppLocale:
Some time ago, in order to start Japanese software, you had to set your whole system language to Japanese, restart, use your tool, set the language back and restart again. Luckily Microsoft made a little tool called AppLocale. It changes your system language for single programs with no need to reset the whole system.
There is a quick tutorial with additional tips about it here.

So if you want to open for example Japanese-titled pictures, right click on your viewer/shortcut to your viewer and chose "Locale Japanese". Then open your files, et voila!

2.3. Typing in Japanese:
Sometimes you can look up words more precisely by using its kanjis. Also, in order to conversate with native speakers, you won't get far with just romaji or kana. Luckily the Japanese typing system is very intuitive and in most cases it's enough if you just know the pronounciation of words. You can find a guide on how to install the Japanese keyboard here. Also make sure to set hot keys to change fast between your keyboard layouts. For example, I set Alt+Shift+1 to German input and Alt+Shift+2 to Japanese.
Now on how to type in Japanese: Activate the keyboard layout and a little toolbar will appear. Click on the "A"-like button (input mode) and select the first entry from the top (Hiragana). Then just type your words in romaji and hit space after each word. It will then decide which parts of your hiragana needs to be converted to kanji and do so. Unless you use some super seldom expressions, the result will be correct in most cases. Remember to change to katakana when you want to write "Engrish" expressions.

Note: In case you are used to a QWERTZ-keyboard like we Germans, don't forget that Japan (like the rest of the world >.>) has a QUERTY-keyboard. So in order to write for example the kanji ょ (yo) you need to type zo! Don't forget that :)