Personal Internet Banking

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Security Code:

5 Responses to “Quicken Home & Business 2010 [DOWNLOAD]”

1. 
   Comment by JG in PHX
   July 17th, 2010

   Review by JG in PHX for Quicken Home & Business 2010 [DOWNLOAD]
   Rating:
   I have been a Quicken user for about a decade. I previously had Quicken 2007 installed on my PC, but since Quicken fixes it that you have to purchase a new version every 3 years if you want to download transactions from your financial institutions, it was time for an update. Quicken tends to incrementally add new features from year-to-year, so if it were not mandatory to update periodically in order to download transactions, I would probably update less frequently. For the features I regularly use, I see very difference between 2007 and 2010.

   I prefer to do a clean install, so I first uninstalled my previous version of Quicken. When uninstalling, Quicken leaves behind your data files to use in the new version. This latest update process was probably the smoothest I’ve experienced. I have about 10 years of data, and Quicken 2010 converted the previous data files to the current single .qdf data file in about 5 minutes. With that, my preferences were maintained and all accounts were up-to-date.

   Here are the reasons I use Quicken rather than simply rely on my online banking website:
   
   1) convenience of having transactions and balances from all financial institutions in one place
   
   2) ability to separate business and personal expenses
   
   3) makes it easy to find taxable deductions without having to use additional tax programs
   
   4) by downloading transactions every couple of days, one can get a jump start on finding fraudulent charges if they exist
   
   5) ability to see the equity built up in my home from month-to-month
   
   6) built in check register

   Quicken also has the ability to keep track of your investments. However, if you’re an active day trader, you would be better served with a dedicated software program for tracking your securities. Perhaps Quicken has inproved its handling of stock transactions, but I found that when I was an active trader using prior versions, the balances were not accurate and suitable for use in filing your Schedule D.

   With the demise of MS Money, Quicken is basically your only choice for downloading transactions to a desktop program. I would have given Quicken 2010 5 stars, but deducted a star because of the program’s built-in obsolescence after only 3 years and requirement to pay full price to update to the latest version.
2. 
   Comment by Small town girl
   July 18th, 2010

   Review by Small town girl for Quicken Home & Business 2010 [DOWNLOAD]
   Rating:
   I downloaded Quicken 2010 Home and Business as an update for Quicken 2009 Home and Business. The download and installation from Amazon was no problem after I downloaded the Amazon files for downloading software and games. Had a slight problem getting my old Quicken files to convert to the new version of Quicken. Ended up bypassing the installation option to convert my old files and instead used the “file/open” option after I got the software installed and that worked fine, converted my files and then I just saved that opened file. Also had a problem in that I have another program that uses the .pdf printer option and the Quicken .pdf printer settings were keeping my other software from using the .pdf printer option. I had to delete and reinstall the .pdf printer file for that other software so that it would again be first in line. Overall, this seems to be a smoother upgrade than 2009 which was a nightmare until they got all their glitches fixed. I would also add that I tried the online support from Quicken and after waiting in the print cue for 24 minutes, at 9 seconds it canceled my request and gave me a search box instead so I wouldn’t waste my time waiting in line for help.
3. 
   Comment by Radio Head
   July 18th, 2010

   Review by Radio Head for Quicken Home & Business 2010 [DOWNLOAD]
   Rating:
   I have been using some version of Quicken since 1995 and am happy with the software. However, I am not happy with the fact that Intuit forces you to upgrade the software every 3 years although there is no compelling reason to do so. If you download your bank and credit card transactions, you have no choice but to upgrade because Intuit says that the older version will not support the download any more. This appears to be a business tactic to continue the revenue stream and not for helping the customer or for technical reasons.
4. 
   Comment by M. Gozum
   July 18th, 2010

   Review by M. Gozum for Quicken Home & Business 2010 [DOWNLOAD]
   Rating:
   If you are a current Quicken user faced with a forced upgrade, version 2010 is better than at least, 2007. upgrade only when necessary. My upgrades this decade were in 2004 and 2007.

   As a heavy user since 1988, I’ve seen a lot change with Quicken, many have been painful. Versions this decade are the least problematic. Periodic upgrades do make sense given its Internet centric operation because HTML, encryption, security protocols, and more, have evolved much and Quicken must adopt these changes. Alas, to users most of these are invisible and behind the scenes. In 2010, Quicken now uses the .NET framework for coding, a mixed blessing, as it consumes more memory, resources and disk space to add capability and stability. Computers should find these added needs inconsequential if these machines run games and 720p movies easily. I’ve not had problems with data syncing, slow response, bugs, lost data, corrupt files etc., despite my 4 year old computer and continuous data going back to 1985.

   I’ve never upgraded to a first release of a new version to avoid bugs, nor overwrite a prior version. Always make a full system backup before installation, a system restore point just before installation, then a fresh install, then import the prior data file as a copy, keeping the old file intact. This leads to the least, if not problem free upgrade and an effortless path back to the old version should the upgrade bomb. Although I received 2010 Release 1.0, online files were available to upgrade my 2010 to Release 4.0.

   The GUI design has remain unchanged, and clearly noticeable improvements and editing aids are welcome, BUT not worth paying for.

   Quicken does make effortless a core function of personal finance, quick retrieval and reliable storage of data, editing and later analysis via reports. In the past decade, data retrieval has been nearly flawless; duplicate entries are increasingly rare even if you overlap a data set, say after syncing manually then later add data using a QFX file. However, Quicken has many shortcomings that should have been fixed decades ago. Quicken has sub-optimally organized or thought out functions. Its not intuitive where a function is, several do the same thing or are poorly thought out. For example, there are 3 ways to write electronic checks that do the same thing differently: through a 1990s “online banking” interface, the checking register, or a separate checkbook app. Attachments to register entries, such as jpgs of checks, can be encrypted individually, however you can see the files whether encrypted or not, the annunciator is poorly located so its not immediately clear if attachments are encrypted, and this option implies Quicken data files are not encrypted entirely, a serious oversight. There is also suggestion from Elcomsoft, that a backdoor exists for decoding Quicken data file passwords. Luckily, one can separately encrypt files or drive partitions using Windows options or 3rd party programs.

   The new user or light Quicken user should know there are several free personal finance managers available for download that read Quicken formats. I’ve tried some of them but they lack Quicken’s overall flexibility, and they are similar to early versions of Quicken. Thus, if your needs are simple like budgeting, then tracking income, expense and some investing, there maybe free alternatives. Should you decide to move to Quicken later, these programs allow exports into the Quicken format.
5. 
   Comment by J. Preece
   July 18th, 2010

   Review by J. Preece for Quicken Home & Business 2010 [DOWNLOAD]
   Rating:
   I’ve used Quicken for about 10 years now and it has always had its share of issues. Bugs, oddities, and frustrating work-arounds were pretty standard. I found it better in most was than Money but since MS Money is no longer supported, it looks like Quicken is really the only game in town.

   I gotta say, since upgrading to 2010 I see a lot that I like. The new design is better, easier to get a glance at your finances, and the Update feature (auto-downloads of bank accounts) works much better than in 2007. I used to get a list of errors almost every time I updated, but on this version that seems to be fixed. It’s almost more clear when the “error” is that no transactions have posted.

   The business section also seems to have been improved with tagging in the registers. This makes it a little easier to sort expenses and income between personal and business. In the 2007 version it was more arduous to separate these items.

   Finally, the screen showing outstanding bills is nicer, and I do like the ability to mark a bill as paid and clearly see that it was entered.

   The Quicken engineers did a few nice upgrades all around on this version. Is it worth the money to upgrade? If you have any older version of Quicken, I’d say it’s worth the upgrade. If you are on 2009, I’d wait a year or two and get the most out of your last investment. I was *forced* to upgrade because 2007 will stop supporting downloads from bank accounts in April. This is standard for Quicken- they force you to upgrade every three years. This is one reason I will probably never rate their products with 5-stars (are you listening, Intuit??).