It was Boy #2's birthday recently (he was eleven. ELEVEN. How did that happen?) He loves the fact that it's so early in the year as he sees it as an opportunity to mop up the items on his Christmas list that didn't turn up under the tree.
One of those was a laptop (we try to keep Christmas presents relatively modest, so there was no way this was going to make the cut), and another a game he's long been lusting after, to play on it. Lucky boy, he scored both for his birthday.
However...
Neither OH or I are computer wizards. I would, in fact, go so far as to call us complete dimwits in this respect. OH has been carting around 2 laptops for a month now; his old, barely functioning one, and a brand spanking new shiny-shiny that he has not got around to setting up yet. I'm no better; I've been having problems with my own 4 year old model recently, and have my suspicions that this is due in large part to the fact that I probably never set it up properly in the first place. Not that I would admit that to my beloved, obviously. Not when there is the chance of a new laptop for me as a result (my own birthday is not too far away, so... ).
Despite our technical shortcomings Boy #2 is now - understandably - desperate to get his new laptop operational and to get said game installed, so OH 'took control' of the job at the weekend. Much frustration ensued, and when he left the house on Tuesday he hadn't managed to finish the job; he would, he informed us, install the game on his return at the weekend.
The issue, however, is that Boy #2 needs motivation at the moment. (OK; bribes, essentially). He's coming to the end of a long road with school tests etc, so it seemed to me that completing the installation earlier than that would be a good reward for all his hard work.
It should be easy, right?
In the last 2 days I have spent over 3 hours trying to get the bloody game set up, and have got precisely nowhere. This afternoon I thought I might have made a breakthrough when it looked as if our anti-virus software might be the roadblock, but to circumvent that I needed the serial number of our account.
Which led to the following conversation...
Me: 'So, I can't set up that game on Boy#2's laptop. I think the anti-virus software is blocking it - can you send me the serial number?'
OH: 'What anti-virus software?'
Me: 'The one you set up on his new laptop.' silence. 'You did set it up, didn't you?'
OH: 'Well - no. I didn't set anything up. Because I couldn't even get Windows to work - that was what I was muttering about on Monday evening. God knows what the problem was but other than registering Boy #2's name on the laptop, nothing's been done. Were you not listening to me?'
Me (carefully ignoring the last question - of course I was listening to him...): 'Which is probably why I can't get this game set up.'
OH: 'Correct.'
Me: 'So I've been wasting my time. All 3+ hours of it.'
OH. 'Uh-huh...'
One of those was a laptop (we try to keep Christmas presents relatively modest, so there was no way this was going to make the cut), and another a game he's long been lusting after, to play on it. Lucky boy, he scored both for his birthday.
However...
Neither OH or I are computer wizards. I would, in fact, go so far as to call us complete dimwits in this respect. OH has been carting around 2 laptops for a month now; his old, barely functioning one, and a brand spanking new shiny-shiny that he has not got around to setting up yet. I'm no better; I've been having problems with my own 4 year old model recently, and have my suspicions that this is due in large part to the fact that I probably never set it up properly in the first place. Not that I would admit that to my beloved, obviously. Not when there is the chance of a new laptop for me as a result (my own birthday is not too far away, so... ).
Despite our technical shortcomings Boy #2 is now - understandably - desperate to get his new laptop operational and to get said game installed, so OH 'took control' of the job at the weekend. Much frustration ensued, and when he left the house on Tuesday he hadn't managed to finish the job; he would, he informed us, install the game on his return at the weekend.
The issue, however, is that Boy #2 needs motivation at the moment. (OK; bribes, essentially). He's coming to the end of a long road with school tests etc, so it seemed to me that completing the installation earlier than that would be a good reward for all his hard work.
It should be easy, right?
In the last 2 days I have spent over 3 hours trying to get the bloody game set up, and have got precisely nowhere. This afternoon I thought I might have made a breakthrough when it looked as if our anti-virus software might be the roadblock, but to circumvent that I needed the serial number of our account.
Which led to the following conversation...
Me: 'So, I can't set up that game on Boy#2's laptop. I think the anti-virus software is blocking it - can you send me the serial number?'
OH: 'What anti-virus software?'
Me: 'The one you set up on his new laptop.' silence. 'You did set it up, didn't you?'
OH: 'Well - no. I didn't set anything up. Because I couldn't even get Windows to work - that was what I was muttering about on Monday evening. God knows what the problem was but other than registering Boy #2's name on the laptop, nothing's been done. Were you not listening to me?'
Me (carefully ignoring the last question - of course I was listening to him...): 'Which is probably why I can't get this game set up.'
OH: 'Correct.'
Me: 'So I've been wasting my time. All 3+ hours of it.'
OH. 'Uh-huh...'
