Your all ready off to a bad start buy using xbox, but get the "wireless thingy" and set it up fallowing the directions that come with it. But also make sure you have a router, I had a friend buy the wireless "thingy" and he didnt realize that you need a router for it. Then you should be able to set up the live account fallowing the instructions after connecting everything, but I'm not sure on how to use the 12 month gold subscription, best bet is to google it for that part.