If you are a new learner who just want to experience or get comfortable with an Arabic keyboard, either use <a href="http://arabic.speak7.com/arabic_keyboard.html">Arabic Keyboard</a>, because it's ready to use and has some friendly buttons and translations. If you are an Arabic native or reached a level where you can type in Arabic without a problem then you might want to install Arabic on your computer.
To set up Arabic under Windows XP, select Start | Settings | Control Panel | Regional and Language Options. Click the Languages tab at the top; check the box which allows you to "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)”, Apply, then click on Details... under Text services and input languages. When the window appears, click Add... next to Installed services and select Arabic (Egypt) and Arabic (101) as your Keyboard layout/IME. Click OK, Apply, Ok and you're done.
To set up Arabic under Windows Vista, select Start (or windows logo) | Settings | Control Panel | Regional and Language Options. Choose "Keyboards and Languages" at the top, click on the button "Change Keyboards", then "Add", scroll to where Arabic is, you might want to choose "Arabic (Egypt)" for example, make sure you click on the + icon before the word "Arabic (Egypt)”, once you do, you will see "keyboard" click on the + icon placed before it. Check the box for “Arabic (101)”. Click "Ok", then "Apply" and finally "Ok", and that's it.
Tips you need to know
Once Arabic is installed, you will be able to type messages in Arabic or in English, to do so let's say you were typing an e-mail in English and you decided to type the rest in Arabic, just press and hold "Shift" button on your keyboard and press "Alt", and that will switch to "Ar", then you can do the same thing again (Shift + Alt) to swtich back to English. Good luck!
How do I change the display language?
If your browser doesn't support Arabic or when you visit a website in Arabic it shows you just some weird signs and symbols, then you need to adjust your browser which can be done easily in order to display that page properly.
Go to the top of your browser where you have "File" "Edit" "View”.... Select "View", then "Encoding" then "Arabic Windows" and that should do it, if the problem still exists, then that means the problem is not your browser, but on the page you're trying to view.
