Running memoQ on two computers

Most of the major translation environment tools have some sort of mechanism for dealing with the occasional need to take your work on the road or do it on a different machine than the one you usually work on. For Atril's Déjà Vu it's the dongle: plug it in to any machine and you're ready to go. Just don't lose it. (Speaking of which, where did I leave that thing???) SDL Trados acolytes can perform the mysterious rituals of online activation and deactivation, returning their sacrifice - uh, license - to the altar server and the reclaiming it in a triumphant process that unleashes productivity and great relief if it works.

I knew there was something I could do to make memoQ run on both my main machine and my Netbook for travels. In fact, I thought I had done this, but at some point it stopped working, and I simply did not get around to clearing the matter up. Then I finally asked Denis Hay on the support team, who confirmed that I had taken the right steps. Almost.

Your main memoQ license will end in -001. To run the license on a second machine (like your netbook), install memoQ and change the license number to end in -002.

What I had forgotten has nothing to do with the second installation per se. Some memoQ upgrades require one to re-contact the license server briefly for a update. This process can be initiated from the dialog under the Help menu and takes just a few seconds. I had apparently forgotten to do this about half a dozen upgrades ago. (Which isn't really that long ago. The pace of progress and bug fixes at Kilgray is very satisfying.)

So now, the next time I have to travel, I won't be lugging my boat anchor laptop with me but rather my light little Lenovo netbook.