non-Unicode programs on user account [Win XP Pro]

Hello everyone,
I hope this is a right place for my question. I was searching the net for the
answer on this problem for hours but I didn't find anything useful. You are my
last resort guys :-).
I'm using a localized version of XP Professional with SP3. I have 2 accounts:
one with the admin rights and a second one with restricted user privileges
(it's
used for every day work). The problem, I'm facing now, concerns non-Unicode
programs run under restricted user account. Menus in these applications are
not
displayed properly (they are full of hashes). The problem doesn't occur on the
admin account. The advanced properties of Regional and Language Options are
set
except "Apply all settings to the current user account and to the default
user profile" option. This one can't be selected permanently - each time
I
start the Regional and Language Options applet this option turns unchecked.
I tried the following:

1. I changed the user account into an admin type temporally and started
applications.
2. I ran these applications on user account but with admin privileges (Run as
command).
3. I created a brand new admin account and ran the programs.

Non of them helped (even a third one???). The only way to use these
applications
with correct menus is to run them on the admin account that was set as a first
account during an operating system setup process.
Any clues what's wrong? Thanks in advance for all your help.
Regards,
gordom