How To Activate McAfee

I've seen several references to activating McAfee on the forums, but nothing that addresses the following situation:  I just got a new XPS 16 laptop.  It comes with a 15 month trial version of McAfee. I can't activate McAfee.   If I try to open the McAfee control panel, the logo appears for a few seconds, then disappears.  If I right click on the McAfee icon in the tray, I get a "verify subscription" option.  Selecting that,  I get a message to reinstall.   I reinstalled successfully (according to the installer report), an Activate screen flashed momentarily and vanished.  Does anyone know how to get this running?  PS: Using Windows 7 64x.  Thanks.