My laptop doesn't have a QR scanner.
If it has a webcam that's all you need. Where it says enter private key, click the QR symbol on the right of the entry field. It will ask permission to use the webcam and that's that.
Hey, that worked. Thanks!
Problem solved, and all it took was about 20 hours of work, spread over a period of about a month, including about a dozen posts to various forums and support desks!
It wasn't nearly as easy as it should be. Apparently, the "standard" client, Bitcoin-QT (a name only a developer would love), has no support for reading QR codes. There are no wallets for the iPhone, which means no more Apple products for me. After considerable research, I loaded the blockchain's MyWallet on my wife's Android, but couldn't get it to pair. The QR reading functionality of MyWallet on my desktop was so well-hidden that I needed expert help to find it.
I have a degree in computer science and 40 years experience, and cashing a check for .25 BTC was a major project for me. If we want the average housewife in Argentina to use Bitcoin for grocery shopping, we need a better solution!