Computer problems - date format and website

I am not computer literate so can any replies be idiot proof

1. Dates on a lot of my files/systems have mysterously changed format to an american type. eg in an xls file I use i cant seem to change them back despite using the cells change format approach etc, all my email date formats have changed

2. Whenever i use the Lufthansa website to try and check for flights using the search option a Lufthhansa page appears with 'done with errors' but no flights options are shown - I tried emailing Lufthansa but got a standard reply. Using another laptop is fine.

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Originally Posted by Newryrep

I am not computer literate so can any replies be idiot proof

1. Dates on a lot of my files/systems have mysterously changed format to an american type. eg in an xls file I use i cant seem to change them back despite using the cells change format approach etc, all my email date formats have changed.

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Check your regional settings in Control Panel , they may be set to US

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Originally Posted by gustavo

Check your regional settings in Control Panel , they may be set to US

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Cheers Gustavo

I checked they were set to English but the date format was yyyy/mm/dd

I changed it to dd/mm/yyyy and it seemed to do the trick. But it is not something i done by mistake - strange one ?

could have been part of a recent service pack?
did you install XP Service Pack 3 lately?

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

could have been part of a recent service pack?
did you install XP Service Pack 3 lately?

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The only thing i do is install the automatic updates ? the ones were you go to shutdown and instead of shutdown it gives installs updates and re-start ?

The lufthansa page is opened with errors, it wont let me copy and paste the message ?

Windows Update is unlikely to change your date format. I'd suggest doing a virus and spybot scan, just to be sure.

adam