If you're just trying to browse the Web in Cyrillic, see our Russian links page. Many Cyrillic fonts are available via the Internet (a small selection are linked from this page) in several different encodings. For information about using Cyrillic on your computer, I recommend the concise guide at Stanwardine or reading through Russify Everything if you're not using a recent Windows PC.

• Character Set Converter (demo $29), Fingertip Software.
  Windows utility to transliterate Cyrillic text between 35 commonly-used Cyrillic encodings, including Unicode; also allows definition of custom character sets. Can use files or clipboard as source and destination. It includes a useful help file showing all the character sets it supports.
  Fingertip sell a range of fonts, software, and keyboards for computing in Russian and other languages
  Note: There are free conversion utilities available which may cover less encodings.
• Cyril v1.04 (shareware £40), Cyril Software.
  Simple but effective DOS Cyrillic word processor.
• Cyrillic Font (freeware), Bill Tavolga.
  A TrueType serif font for use with Windows 3.x, including bold & proper (cursive) italic styles. Uses the lower ASCII range, so no different keyboard driver is needed. Font is mapped to AATSEEL layout for a US keyboard. (Note: Konstantin Gredeskoul's Convert software will handle conversions for this font, though in DOS rather than Windows).
• Cyrillic Web Fonts
  Collection of Cyrillic fonts ideal for use in a Windows 3.x web browser - proportional and fixed fonts for KOI-8 and CP-1251 encodings. For full instructions, see Paul Gorodyansky's guide to 'Russification'.
• English-Russian ('ER') font series V4, G. Helf.
  Four different TrueType typefaces (serif, sans serif, monospaced and decorative) each available in four encodings: Russian Windows (CP-1251), KOI-8, CP-866 (DOS) and Macintosh standard. A Russian keyboard driver (e.g. Winkey, below) is necessary to type with these fonts using Windows 3 as they use the upper ASCII range for Cyrillic, with Latin characters in the usual lower section.
• Erred (shareware $16), S. Birj.
  English<->Russian dictionary: over 50,000 words plus user dictionary.
• HomeWorkLangCy (shareware $30), Rendaxa Software.
  Vocabulary trainer for words, sentences or grammatical texts - type the translation of the displayed text. An on-screen (phonetic-ish) keyboard makes it easy to type Cyrillic characters. There is also an editing module which uses a spreadsheet layout to simultaneously display Cyrillic, transliterated and English (or another European language), plus comments.

• Introduction to Russian (freeware), Dave Eisenberg, CatCode 2000.
  Zip file of a tutorial website covering alphabet and numbers - but very reassuringly done!

• Keyboard Tsar (freeware), Andrew Quilley/University of Leeds.
  Cyrillic (and English) typing tutor: a series of exercises gradually builds up familiarity and proficiency in touch typing, in groups of letters according to the keyboard layout. Users are given feedback on speed, accuracy and most common errors at the end of each exercise, and are encouraged to reach a certain level of accuracy before proceeding to the next exercise. The Cyrillic component is specially for non-native speakers of Russian. It includes a glossary of translations for the test words, a review of the Russian alphabet with sound, and it can toggle between English and Cyrillic keyboard layouts in its on-screen display.

• Leed Accented Cyrillic Font Richard L. Leed, Cornell University.
  Serif font which adds accented (stressed) vowels to the Russian Windows (CP-1251) and Unicode Cyrillic regions. Used on Cornell's Russian Language Program website.

• Otpad (freeware), I. Sidorenkov.
  Multi-window text editor with transliterated input of Russian letters (i.e. typing ya or shch will output one Cyrillic character). Built-in conversion between transliterated text, KOI-8 and Win 1251 encodings and can copy and paste as Unicode - very useful for Windows 2000. Keyboard layout and transliteration tables can be redefined by the user.

• Russian Conjugation and Declension (freeware), Gary R. Jahn.
  A collection of DOS programs to help students learn vocabulary and patterns of inflection of nouns, verbs, and adjectives in Russian. Records of student performance are kept.

• Russian-English On-Line Dictionary (shareware $55), L. Ungier.
  One-way pop-up dictionary for DOS. 15,000 words, customisable; the registered version has 50,000 words and stress marks.
• Russian Punctuation (freeware), Silantev et al.
  DOS program which teaches and examines on the rules of using the comma in Russian, in a semantic rather than a formulaic manner. The rules are introduced in the logical order, their "deep syntax essence becoming evident" through exercises based on J.R.R.Tolkien's Hobbit.
• Russian Tutor V2.F (freeware), J. Selvia.
  Attractively presented beginners' introduction covering the alphabet (printed and written, including a flashcard quiz), numbers, objects, verbs (tenses plus conjugations of common verbs), cases, names, phrases, colours, calendar and spelling. Recommended. (DOS)
• Russian Tutor for Windows V1.0 (shareware $25), Atomic Software.
  Introduction to Russian comprising audio pronunciation of letters different to English, names and some sentences. Registration gives modules for the whole Cyrillic alphabet, more pronunciation and cardinals & ordinals. Nicely presented (written with Toolbook), including many sound samples, recording of student's voice and animations of mouth movements for pronunciation.
• Russian Word Processor V2.1 (shareware $15), B. Tavolga.
  DOS Cyrillic word processor.
• Sentences (freeware), Gary R. Jahn.
  Windows shell program to teach grammatically correct sentences via tutorial, reference, and several varieties of question, including multiple choice, question-answer, cue-response, fill-in, and cloze. You can download 30 sets of lessons based on the beginners textbook "Russian for Everybody" (R. Baker et al.). Records of student performance are stored. The program as a whole consists of a drill-editor and lesson maker, a student delivery module, and a keyboard editor - it isn't limited to Russian, and can even handle right-to-left languages like Hebrew.

• Verbioso Verb Reference System ($10 - free mini version available too), Verbioso.
  Includes around 1,500 verbs in each of Russian and English, and over 40,000 conjugations. Stress is shown, perfective and imperfective forms are paired, and nearly every verb has a host of example sentences, each linked to a dictionary definition. Available for Windows and Macintosh.

• V.K. Mueller English-Russian Dictionary (freeware), Verbioso.
  An HTML-based version of the 1961 7th edition of the V.K. Mueller English-Russian dictionary (one-way), available for Windows and Macintosh. There are thousands of examples in both Russian and English, with stress marks, and a search engine makes finding entries easier.

• Winkey V1.0 (freeware), G. Helf.
  Windows (3.1 or 95) and DOS keyboard driver and utility to switch between a variety of layouts - this version comes with support for Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Estonian and Latvian. User has full control over the layout, and there's a useful help file. TrueType fonts are not included - see above.
  Alternative download site