Microsoft Global Input Method Editor
If you are on Windows you will require Microsoft Global Input Method Editor or IME to read and type in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.
Entering pinyin should be self-explanatory, just fire up the language bar, type in the pinyin word and select the corresponding number for the character you want. If its a common phrase, you can type in the entire phrase in pinyin and it ought to recognise it. It is ideal to set up a shortcut so that you can switch between language modes quickly. Go to the Language Bar > Settings > Key Settings to set shortcuts. For example, I use Alt-Shift-1 for Chinese and Alt-Shift-2 for English (UK).
In order to get ü (u with the umlaut) for words such as 女 (nü) or 旅 (lü), you substitute it with v. The v sound never appears in Chinese anyway. (In previous version of Windows IME, you would have typed u: in place of ü)
Another irrelevant point is that if your system tools folder disappears on windows, here is how u find it back:
- Character Map - %SystemRoot%\system32\charmap.exe
- Disk Cleanup - %SystemRoot%\system32\cleanmgr.exe
- Disk Defragmenter - %SystemRoot%\system32\dfrg.msc
- Files and Setting Transfer Wizard - %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\usmt\migwiz.exe
- Security Center - %SystemRoot%\system32\wscui.cpl
- System Information - C:\PROGRAM FILES\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe
- Scheduled Tasks-%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe
- System Restore - %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
- * Activate Windows-%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /A
