Yesterday, I started to describe all the trouble I was experiencing trying to get my newly purchased computer into the same shape as my old one so I could use it for all my activities. The two programs I use the most are Photoshop and iWeb. Both of them seemed to transfer successfully over to my new machine, so I figured I was well on my way to using my big new iMac. I was wrong.
While Photoshop is generally used for photography, I use it to draw my cartoons, and also in my painting. (Instead of looking at an object and painting it, I put a photo up on my screen, zoom in to the section I want to paint, then paint, by looking at the screen.)
I double-clicked on the Photoshop icon on my new computer just to confirm that all was well, and was dismayed when a confusing message came up that said I couldn’t use the program because it was not “Activated”. I didn’t know what to do, so did a Google search to find out more information.
That led me to the Adobe site, where there was a “Chat” helpline. I typed in my situation and problem into the chat and waited. Fortunately, I quickly got a response from Appachu, who wanted more details. After I gave him more details, he wanted to know when I bought the Photoshop program, and was I registered as an owner. I always register, so I confirmed that I was and he asked me my email address, and I gave it to him.
He said he couldn’t find me in their records and asked if I had a receipt. By this time I was scrambling around trying to find more proof of my legitimacy. I found the Photoshop box and installation discs and gave him the long number that was printed on the outside of the box. Again he wanted to know about if I had a receipt. I said I might have one back in my tax records, but that would take some digging to find.
Then he mentioned that the number I gave him from the box was not the right number and that I should look on the installation disc. This I did and then gave him the correct number. They did have record of that number, but he still wondered about the receipt. I was also informed that the copy I had was an “Upgrade” and that they wanted to know if I had the receipt for the first version of Photoshop that I had.
Luckily, I still had the old original “Owner’s Manual” (remember when they actually gave you such things when you bought a program?), and even more luckily, I had written the registration number on the cover of the manual. (Sometimes I am amazed that I had enough sense way back then to write the number down.) It seems that I bought the program back in 2003, and I also gave the help line my older email address, and was told that I had registered Photoshop.
Of course just because I was happy and satisfied that I had discovered the number, Appachu, the guy I was “chatting” with still wanted to know if I had the original receipt. By this time I had been on the chat line for about an hour and I was getting a little peeved at the assumption that I was somehow trying to cheat this giant corporation. During the pauses in my chat, I had even deconstructed the growing lights and table for my infant pepper plants and moved all kind of things out of the way, so I could get into the filing cabinet to find the old receipt.
I found tax receipts for 2001, 2002, and 2004, but of course I couldn’t find 2003, the ones I needed. As my frustration grew and I went back to the chat line, I saw the following instructions, “Try typing the old serial number (the I had written on the cover of the old obsolete owner’s manual that I still had on my shelf), into the program and see if that works.”
Amazingly it did. Photoshop was again up and running, now on my new computer. Crossing my fingers, I clicked on iWeb, the discontinued program I use to do this blog and design my website, to see if that worked on my new computer....
You can view my paintings: www.davidmarchant.ca
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