Quicken Deluxe 2009 Reviews

• A Software Nightmare!

  
  By A3KSLA1UJXSDX5 on 2008-09-13
  Quicken seems to make more disasters than improvements with their new software and this is perhaps the worst one ever. Don't get me wrong, I have used Quicken for many years and I personally have had great success using the 2008 version. It ties in with their not-so-great Quicken Home Inventory program, downloads transactions easily, scans receipts directly from the program etc. I thought perhaps the 2009 version would be even better.
  This thing is not even ready for an Alpha release! First there is no great feature changes over the 2008 version. It does not work with the home inventory program, and I cannot download transactions from websites and when it goes to update, nothing shows up. Sometimes the transactions would show up if you closed the program and re-opened, but often not.
  Problem One: No way to automatically get transactions!
  So after this mess I decided there was no way to continue using it and wanted to go back to 2008. Supposedly it saved your old 2008 files in a special folder. That's fine BUT the program RUINS your registry so that the old files say that they belong to a newer version and you cannot reload the backup files. Well I knew better before installation so I had set a system restore point right before I installed 2009. I did the system restore but my old version was damaged. I then had to uninstall 2008 from the system-restored computer and reinstall. Thank goodness that finally worked.
  I beg you, do NOT upgrade! Even as a new installation it is fairly useless unless you only enter transactions manually.
  
  

• Quicken 2009 Major disappointment!

  
  By AK499J3BA5YQ9 on 2008-09-12
  As with every other new Quicken annual update, Quicken 2009 Premier has been released prematurely with numerous problems! The program simply fails to download transactions from many financial institutions but gives you an erroneous online update summary that the account was successfully updated!
  
  And the technical support for Intuit products can be summarized in one word: "Nonexistant"! Intuit has created a Quicken Community forum where everybody gripes about there non-working programs, but no solutions are offered here.
  And worst of all Intuit no longer has effective telephone support! Oh yes you can email them and request a callback that will occur within thirty minutes. I've been waiting for my callback for a week.
  In summary, don't buy this product till they get the bugs out which will be at least six months from now.
  
  

• Download Quotes Doesn't Work

  
  By A2CPWKQ8P550VT on 2008-09-12
  It's very frustrating, but after years of using Quicken, they've finally given sufficient reason to abandon it. Download of financial information has not worked for over a month; erroneous prices get imported into the program, and it take hours to remove it. Quicken's response is to say 2 things simultaneously: 1. They fixed it, and 2. Mutual fund price download doesn't work. Unless you agree with that definition of "fixed," it's time to look elsewhere.
  
  

• Quicken Premier and Deluxe and Renters

  
  By A3NOBH42C7UI5M on 2008-09-17
  First let me say that I do believe that every new version of any program is going to have issues. I've never used a totally bug free program with a new released version.
  Second, I've used the 2009 versions of Quicken for months and I've not seen the problem some have complained about here. All my accounts have always updated properly, on all my computers ( two desktops and three laptops). It can be true that some banks take time to update their systems to be compatible with newer versions of accounting programs. That is not just Quicken, but all the programs. If you check with any accounting agency they will all tell you they recommend Quicken over the others and to update to stay current.
  Third, I have NEVER, in nearly 20 years, EVER lost a file in Quicken. The only possible way to lose a file or have a corrupted file is to NOT backup as the program tells you to every time you close it. I can still use files from the 1980s, converted, updated and original files in old, saved versions of the program.
  
  I've used Quicken since the late 80s. I've tried MS Money, as well as other small accounting programs, but I always come back to Quicken. Though there are small things I do not like about Quicken (all the commercial stuff that gets offered) over all, I really think it is the best personal accounting system on the market.
  It is extremely easy to use. It looks just like a check book register, so there's nothing to using it to keep track of basic spending.
  It's also easy to set up categories and sub categories (like UTILITIES:SoCalGAS, UTILITIES:DWP) for your transactions so you can put everything into spending groups, for taxes or specialized reports, or just to be able to print out the payments to a particular payee or category like "INSURANCE:Health".
  Once you put in your credit card accounts, Quicken will be able to download every transaction for you, and put it right where it belongs.
  Those are just some of the very basic things Quicken can do. At years end, you can see exactly what you spent and where.
  But the things I love the best... you can attach PDF notes or scanned documents to each transaction. I download most of my bills now a days, utilities and credit card statements, and I when I make a payment, I click the attachment like and attach my statement and the online receipt I got when I authorized a payment. On CDs or other bank accounts, I click the interest transaction and attach the statements that to with that account. I attach all my utility bills to the payment transactions and receipts for items with warranties, so I always have them with the click of a button. I can run reports and print them in PDF format, so I can email a payee with all the information about monies I've paid to clear up any disputes Or I can export all transaction to a payee to excel. The new interface is more customizable than previous version, making it easier to set up the way you like to work.
  You can pay bills in Quicken, or do anything any of the others do, but I think Quicken is easier to learn and more reliable.
  I know that other accounting programs offer many of the same features, but over the years I've NEVER lost a file in Quicken. I've never had a problem upgrading a file or running reports on files that go back as far as 1988.
  
  

• Quicken 2009 extremely slow

  
  By A31T5CM6LI6C6H on 2008-09-18
  I've been using Quicken Deluxe for about 6 years. I just upgraded to Quicken Deluxe 2009 and it 20 seconds to look at an account and 10 seconds to process any transaction which makes it basically unusable. After working with Quicken support for an hour and verifying the data file, support said that 2009 didn't support large data files well, they suggested I just delete all my old transactions every year and it would be much faster. Of course that defeats the whole purpose of using Quicken.
  
  My quicken data file has about 20MB of data and quicken 2007 used about 200MB of ram to open it. Quicken 2009 now uses about 1.2GB of ram to open the same file.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• an install nightmare
  By A11TI9QTABL8WC on 2008-09-27
  I purchased quicken deluxe 2009 in early September and was unable to install it on a Vista computer. I received a 1603 error. After multiple hours of reading and trying everything on the net - see Google Quicken 2009 installation errors, I called tech support. I spoke to a very pleasant Indian man who seemed to know the program well. After 2 hrs working with him, we could not install the program. I sent it back and received a full refund - of course no one refunded the time, effort and frustration involved! I have been using Quicken for years and have upgraded almost every year. My advice would be to avoid this program for now. My guess is by Jan 2009, Intuit will have worked the bugs out. They will also probably do so without admitting there were any problems there in the first place.
  
  
• After twohours chatting with India it finally works
  By A10DK4MZD3HRHL on 2008-09-27
  I upgraded from Quicken 2007 to 2009 and was I sorry. I couldn't download transactions from my Quicken credit care after the upgrade and I sent two and half hours on the phone to a very pleasant lady in India before we got it straightened out. We finally painstakingly removed all remenents of previous versions from my computer and reinstalled. Now that it finally works I see no value added over the 2007 version, which in itself was no better then the 2006 version. I see no reason anyone would need to upgrade to 2009 Premier
  
  
• My experience so far
  By AGKXP186I8JIA on 2008-10-06
  I installed Quicken 2009 Deluxe about 90 minutes ago. I was formerly using Microsoft Money 2007. Quickens help page didn't have any instructions for importing, it offered to notify me by email if it is ever updated.
  
  I installed the program and it went fine. I created a new Quicken data file, gave it some information about my bank and it actually downloaded about the last 3 months of transactions successfully. I will update this review once new transactions attempt to download. There were 3 pending over the weekend and I manually entered them into the register so I don't know if it will reconcile them properly or just add another instance of them. We'll see.
  
  I attempted the One Step Update and was asked to register. During this process the program repeatedly crashed and windows launched something called the Just in time debugger. After opening again I was still not registered so I repeated the process with different attempts each time to cancel out of the crash. After about 7 attempts I somehow got registered so the One Step Update button now works.
  
  A new problem has now come up on my computer. When the Quicken Billminder gadget is running on my Vista Sidebar I periodically (few times an hour) get a message the Desktop Window Manager has crashed and the screen flashes for a bit.
  
  I like the look of this software and what I think it does when it works. Unfortunately, based on my own experience and what I've read from other reviewers this is a joke. Intuit has a 60 day money back guarantee. I'll give them to the end of the month to fix the majority of bugs or return it. I'm using R2 - the current version. I believe an update is due within a week or so....
  
  Update 10/7/2008
  
  After my initial download of transactions, nothing else is coming through. It still has an online balance the same as 10/5/08 when I first connected. I look online and at least 5 more transactions have taken place and are not "pending". The budget creator worked well. It automatically searched the previous month (my decision, can go back farther if you want) and makes a rough outline based on your prior income and expense categories. I hope the online features are fixed in this software, otherwise it's only usable if you manually enter everything. It's ridiculous they released it with so many issues.
  
  Update 10/18/08
  I'll be requesting a refund on Monday. Additional transactions did eventually start downloading but Quicken never seemed to match my actual balance. The billminder error went away on it's own so that was a plus. As a last effort I created a new Quicken file and downloaded transactions again. I am being prompted to re-register at quicken.com when I update and it crashes with the debugger error I spoke of earlier. I'm not going through that again.
  
  
  
• Bugs, Bugs and More Bugs
  By A13HNRKVEQ2ID4 on 2008-09-19
  Did Intuit even test this product before releasing it? Tons of tabs which I could live with, but the program didn't convert my accounts correctly...now I have a big mess on my hands. Do not buy this product!
  
  
• Quicken quagmire
  By A20522K1NQ5SON on 2008-11-05
  I have used Quicken for longer than I can remember. The most recent version was 2004 Deluxe on a Windows XP Home SP3 PC, and I made a grievous mistake when I blindly chose to buy Quicken Deluxe 2009 for my new Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 PC. My condolences to the folks troubled by transaction download problems. Quicken Deluxe 2009 is an obnoxiously gimmicky and propagandized interface that foists numerous links to Intuit products and services which distract from the use of the software. It stubbornly ignores stored preferences. Its backup fails capriciously. It stores memorized transactions like a deranged hoarder. Quicken's technical support staff make long-maligned DMV clerks look like five-star waiters. If I am lucky enough to get through to a live (leaving definitions of life aside for now) chat agent, they eclipse the ability of teenagers to procrastinate, misunderstand and break away. Email support offers an equally courteous and misguided approach to problem resolution. Blame the Vista OS and reinstall the program after scrubbing the hard drive with a belt sander are the preferred responses, usually after deciding that my stated backup hard drive is a CD drive and my carefully worded questions are unworthy of direct response. This product and its service are disgraceful.
  
  
• Ridiculously slow
  By ACXGK4MV4Z0QB on 2008-09-28
  I have used Quicken 2003 for a couple years and the speed has never been a concern to me. Upgraded to Quicken 2009 weeks ago and just realized what a fool I was when I started to reconcile transactions - reconciling a transaction takes a few seconds which makes the program extremely painful to use.
  I do not use Quicken to download data, maybe I should get some free software to keep track of my financial activities?
  
  
• Quicken 2009 nightmare
  By A26YALF3JVHZBS on 2008-10-04
  Installed Quicken 2009 H&B last night. I spent two hours finding a way to get Quicken to convert my 2008 data - the program crashed repeatedly during the conversion process. However, I succeeded finally by using msconfig, quicken database copy, and quicken database validate even though Quicken continued to crash.
  
  Today, I cannot download transactions from one financial institution. I deactivated the online feature for this account and reactivated. The programs says I was successful in reactivating but in other parts of the program it says I need to activate.
  
  When downloading transactions on another account, the download transactions do not show up right away - I must exit the program first.
  
  When working with downloaded transactions, Quicken tries to launch Outlook on each and every transaction. My solution, launch Outlook first and I can avoid this error.
  
  I have the Quicken R2 update and use Vista. Buggiest Quicken to date.
  
  Last, people like me rush to update (and pay for the privilege) because we hope the next release will fix the problems in the existing version. Yet, they never fix the problems.
  
  
  
  
• 2009 version a MAJOR disappoinment
  By A12F5Q53JJ2H8S on 2008-10-29
  Let me begin by saying that I never thought I would ever write a negative review about Quicken, a product I have loved for years. I have been a Quicken user for 12+ years and upgrade my version every other year. I have always had great success with the product and have never ever considered switching to a competing product (MS Money, etc.). However, Quicken Deluxe 2009 made me want to hurl my laptop out the window. The software is extremely buggy. Adding accounts has been hit-or-miss depending on the financial institution (American Express, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.) and downloading transactions has been very frustrating with less than a 20% success rate. I am appalled that Intuit would put a product like this out given their stellar record till the 2009 version.
  
  Verdict: If you are a current Quicken user thinking about upgrading, don't do it. If you are considering Quicken for the first time, buy the 2008 version, wait for the kinks to be fixed in the 2009 version or (I hate to say it) buy something else.
  
  
• Works for me
  By A3863M2049OPN3 on 2008-09-24
  Finally decided to upgrade from 2003 starter edition to 2009 deluxe when I got a new PC with Vista. Seems to work fine. Imported my 2003 quicken file no problem. My only complaint is the extra crap shortcuts it placed on my desktop. I paid $40 for this edition, it isn't the free one, so quicken has some nerve planting stupid sales shortcuts on my desktop without asking my permission first. The startup screen in the program looks like it also is loaded with "upgrade" advertisements. Also, I'm pretty sure somewhere in the registration I agreed to let them send me stupid promotion emails although I don't think it's clear and I didn't see an easy way to opt out. You bet I'll be unsubsribing to those as fast as they send them to me. COME ON QUICKEN. get with the picture. These tactics ARE TOTAL BS, especially on the DELUXE version.
  
  To be fair, although I've been using quicken for over 10 years, I've never paid for it as all the versions I had were promotional or came with a new PC or something. Hopefully this "Deluxe" edition will last another 5 years and by then some other company will have something better for me to use.
  
  
• Quicken 2009: Don't risk your accounting
  By A2NWZVWUWPCG6A on 2008-10-20
  I have used, happily, all versions of Quicken since inception. I just loaded 2009 and converted my files. I access a single large file from 2 workstations. It corrupted the file with the network access and brought my systems to a halt. Luckily I have a Q2008 backup and only lost a few transactions. Installation of this product risks your financial accounting and records maintenance. I would strongly recommend against it.
  
  
• A little buggy....
  By A1MKK9X9F9BWKP on 2008-09-30
  Purchased Quicken 2009 as part of the pre-buy so I could have the latest and greatest as soon as it was available. Amazon delivered on time although the price is now much less. Quicken 2009 basically delivers what I expected although I have to say I am experiencing what is frustratingly almost daily crashes and subsequent auto termination of the program with a "potential that unsaved work will be lost". I don't think the crashes have caused me to lose any data, but waiting while the program restarts is time consuming. I tend to agree with others that this version was released before all the bugs were out, so early adopters need to know upfront what they are buying.
  
  
• 2009 is the best Quicken Yet
  By A24WWKO9M6KXUQ on 2008-10-14
  A previous users stated that the Outlook Sync makes Quicken 2009 "unusable" if you don't have Outlook. A more thorough description of the problem may be worthwhile, as I have had no problems what-so-ever with Quicken 2009, and I didn't even have MS Office installed on my PC for the first month I was using Quicken 2009. I just installed Office 2003 yesterday, and still don't use Outlook (although it is now installed) and still I have no issues.
  
  Quicken 2009 has expanded its bank affiliation and its connectivity with those banks is even better. Quicken has even made its categories and re-naming rules better and more intuitive. Fitting, given the name of the parent company.
  
  I was able to set up all of my accounts, investing, and property with ease. In previous version, account setup was a nightmare if you had a bunch of history because if you didn't get the opening balance just right, your register would be off.
  With 2009, they seem to have figured out how to pull data directly from my bank account (through Express Connect) and get the correct opening balance and all activity for a given time frame.
  
  I have also found the investing suggestions to be helpful with finding lower cost funds, and ratings suggestions that lead to better investigation of investment opportunities.
  
  I haven't had the chance to use the shopping suggestions yet, but I think it could be a helpful addition given the current economic situation and the desire fro many to look for deals.
  
  I would recommend this product to anyone looking for a powerful, all-in-one type of money management software package.
  
  
  
  
• Impossible
  By A2KMGFSBPD5HT2 on 2008-10-27
  I had 2008, but had not used it much. I wanted to start using Quicken in ernest and thought, hey, why not download the newest version? Two weeks later I still couldn't understand why it was so difficult for me and why nothing seemed to work. Even basic stuff like seeing a full view of my checking register was elusive. I went to tech. support chat. After 90 minutes of not being able to understand my first (out of 10) very simple questions (how do I get a report of the average/month I spend within a particular catagory), he apparently disconnected the chat out of frustration. Finally, I went to the Quicken online support forums and discovered that everyone was having major problems with 2009. Most people seem to know be computer savvy enough to come up with work arounds, but it is still an issue for everyone. I am not that computer savvy and all I wanted to do was to keep my register, follow my bills and payments by catagory and make a budget. So I finally uninstalled 2009, deleted the qdata files and started completely over with 2008. An hour later, I am just about up and flawlessly (almost) running.
  
  
• Another disappointed long-time Quicken User
  By ALL3FIJOPG0K9 on 2008-10-09
  I've just upgraded to Quicken 2009. What a disappointment! This version runs really slowly. The interface is changed, so it's difficult to find your way around. They have changed the 'Home' so it's now hard to find and not nearly as useful as it was in 2008. I wish I'd read these reviews before I installed it. I guess I'm going to uninstall and go back to the 2008 version.
  
  
• Outlook sync makes the product unusable
  By A14TSCX1RITS7H on 2008-10-14
  An "Outlook sync" feature in Quicken 2009 makes the product unusable if you don't have outlook. Terrible support. Upgrade at your peril.
  
  
• Worth the Money to Upgrade, Even from Deluxe 2008
  By A2K40JBQHJY1HH on 2008-11-08
  I recently upgraded to Quicken Deluxe 2009 from the 2008 version of the same product. I have no regrets, and believe it was well-worth the money. I find the program works smoother and faster for me than 2008. Converting my data files was a snap, and I have experienced no problems downloading transactions from my bank. Not purchasing Quicken 2009 immediately upon release may account for my lack of issues with it. I always wait until my bank insures compatibility with a new version before I buy it. The delay also gives Intuit time to correct any bugs that existed initially.
  
  The graphics are fresher and brighter for 2009. The task bar is a welcome addition. Navigating through the program is easier than in previous versions.
  
  If you use personal financial software several times each day, as I do, then this upgrade is easily worth the price in the improvements present. If you are considering Quicken for the first time, I am aware of no other financial management package that comes to close to the quality and features found here.
  
  
• Many problems in upgrading from Quicken 2007
  By A20W16C8356U0A on 2008-10-18
  I've had 3 major problems since upgrading from Quicken 2007 to 2009. First, on exiting from Quicken it would appear to exit, but the process would actually continue running and growing in size rapidly until it ran out of memory and crashed. This wasn't obvious but caused a number of symptoms, such as not being able to reenter after just exiting. The solution was that my "temp" directory (found by typing "%temp%" in the Run box on Vista) was packed and after cleaning it this stopped. Quicken support suggested this on the second try.
  
  I also have the "tries to launch Outlook" problem. It doesn't seem to matter if you don't have Outlook as your default mail client. The only solution to this seems to be to uninstall Outlook or have it fully configured to work. Apparently if you have Outlook installed it must be configured to run, otherwise things don't quite work. This is a remarkably bad software design decision.
  
  Finally, Billminder always crashes. I've tried everything that Quicken support suggests and it still doesn't work.
  
  Some of the new UI changes are nice, but I find the overall design a bit more confusing than earlier versions. And all of the bugs make this a major disappointment.
  
  
• 1 Star is probably too generous
  By A2WMM3NQNRT1A8 on 2008-10-30
  I've used Quicken for personal finances for 12+ yrs. It always worked OK despite occasional bugs. It ALWAYS downloaded transactions from my VISA card bank and other banks. To me this is the most important feature of Quicken. My current version is Quicken 2008 Deluxe. After we had to switch to Chase VISA this summer, I was successful at downloading transactions from within Quicken only once. I've tried using their suggested work-around (go to Chase and download from there). That option worked once or twice, then quit. For the past 6 months, I have used the Windows VISTA operating system. I'm sure this is part of Quicken's problem, but not much I can do about that.
  
  I have regularly upgraded the software in hopes of getting around problems, but after reading the reviews here, I'm not upgrading to 2009 any time soon. It looks like I am stuck entering transactions by hand for the foreseeable future. Any suggestions will be appreciated--ALOT!!
  
  
• No problems for a new user of Quicken
  By ANML2B74EOSTM on 2008-09-29
  I just received this new software (Quicken Deluxe 2009) and have had no problems at all, so far. Installation and setup was a snap on my laptop (running 32-bit Vista). I am new to Quicken, so did not have any previous files to import. It was easy to set up and make online downloads for my checking, credit card, mortgage and 401k accounts. I'm just getting the hang of using the program, but I have not run into any issues so far, and it seems like this will be a very useful tool in tracking all my household assets and expenses.
  
  I was nervous about purchasing this software, after readying the mostly negative reviews, but I found an exceptional deal on it through Amazon Marketplace, so I decided to give it a try, anyway. I'm glad I did!
  
  
• Buggy, Intuit unresponsive
  By A3KRDT5PAL37MO on 2008-10-19
  I've been a long-time Quicken user. When I updated to 64-bit Vista, my Quicken 2006 was no longer able to print to my HP Officejet 7310. So, I upgraded to Quicken 2009 (which updates itself to R2), assuming that this would fix the problem. It did not. Quicken 2009 on (64-bit?) Vista cannot write to an HP Officejet 7310. I reported this problem to Intuit, but received only a canned response that was useless.
  
  (For those of you who encounter this problem, you must resort to using an HP 990c driver, as I learned from another user with the same problem, and then adjust the alignment so that checks are printed correctly. The printer must be "direct", not subject to spooling.)
  
  The worst bug is that in just about every transaction I make with Quicken 2009, I get a dialog pop up trying to install Outlook! I must dismiss the dialog repeatedly, because it pops up 2 or 3 times before it finally goes away. This problem occurs repeatedly every time I do an online update, or when I "Accept" an online transaction. This bug is evidently a new feature known as "Outlook Sync" that has gone awry. I do NOT have "Outlook Sync" checked.
  
  For those reviewers who have not experienced this problem, perhaps it is unique to Vista. Or perhaps the problem does not materialize if you happen to have Outlook installed and set as your default Email program.
  
  Intuit's support site has a supposed work-around, but it apparently only works if you have Outlook installed, which I do not.
  
  I recommend not updating to 2009 until R3 is available, and then only if you see substantial positive reviews of R3.
  
  
• good product
  By ALZQML91UWCZE on 2008-11-12
  The only reason I gave this only 4 stars is because I found it a bit difficult to use right out of the box. I used Money for so many years that I found Quicken a bit confusing a first. Made many errors in the beginning. Quicken help desk is great which I would give them 5 stars.
  
  
• Greed Kills!
  By A1IOR6FFE2RX4W on 2008-11-23
  I can trace the start of my disappointments to about 7-8 years ago. This was when they started what I now refer to as "Relentless Marketing".
  
  How many Quicken mail and email offers did I get each year? Dozens.
  Phone calls? Lots.
  For a (deluxe) product selling for about $60.
  
  But that wasn't enough. BESIDES that there was constant blunt instrument pressure: "you should upgrade for only..."
  
  And the marketing icons on your desktop.
  Auto-installed trial software and demos.
  And more.
  
  This is the state of business today. Customer service, support, maintenance, innovation, value: pretty much out the window. The strategy of the day is MARKETING uber alles. Short term thinking to make money this minute; the heck with tomorrow!
  
  Nowhere was Quicken's change of philosophy more evident than when they started Quicken Loans. Low monthly payments. Look how much house YOU can really buy. You CAN have it all!
  
  How many interest-only loans do you think they made?
  Think they're making a lot of loans right now?
  Do you think Quicken will be a "mortgage-crisis" casualty?
  I'll bet there were a lot of mouths in that trough - how to feed them now?
  
  I speculate that the 2009 release is an effort to generate more cash, fast, before things get worse. Even if it doesn't "save" the business at least the execs will get their bonuses and golden parachutes.
  
  Somewhere I think I still have a set of floppies from 1996 or so.
  Used to upgrade about every 2 years. Some new heights in the some revs, but agree with the consensus: the trend has been diminishing returns.
  
  I will maintain hope but it's sad to watch a formerly great company to continue go down the tubes.
  
  
  
  
• Unless previously committed to Quicken, look closely at open source such as GNU Cash ...
  By A390UFRRO2BLZS on 2008-11-29
  [This is actually my posted review for Quicken Deluxe 2008. The product couldn't have possibly improved since then ... ]
  
  A forced/hostage upgrade from Quicken 2005. You "have" to upgrade since they've cut a deal with the financial institutions to cut off your online access with the institutions if you don't upgrade every three years. Just as found when I was hostage upgraded in 2005 from 2002, there's nothing more than a cosmetic face-lift, no meaningful fixes/improvements -- but there's even more problems.
  
  * Product now will not connect properly to Fidelity; no problem under 2005.
  
  * Took forever to figure out how to turn off a "reminder" function ... that kept reminding me to pay bills already scheduled to be paid using the auto-pay function. 2005 did the same thing and it's not been fixed.
  
  *You can turn off the product registration nag screen ... if you Google to find out how. Product does not have to be registered to use it.
  
  * Un-reconciles accounts six months back every once in a while. I've been assuming that's being caused by a few bytes of bad data that occasionally comes from the financial institutions ... that the Quicken people have not properly coded so as to filter out. This bug also surfaced in 2005. Two weeks into 2008, I've seen it again already.
  
  * You can't turn off the "free update/revision" nag screen unless you take the update. No such nag screen in 2005.
  
  * When connecting, the completion screen used to show which accounts had new transactions to match and had convenient buttons next to each to take you directly to the account. Gone in 2008. Now I have to look through every account each time to see where transactions might have been retrieved.
  
  * Icons everywhere attempting to peddle other unwanted Quicken products. One of the 'product improvements' in 2008.
  
  * Doesn't handle stock distributions correctly (since they were not actually paid for); keeps generating error messages when you enter the correct posting of no cost incurred. Same problem in 2005.
  
  * Tricky screens/checkboxes/prompts that try to bait you into using/enrolling for QuickenDot services when you don't have to or need to. Users that did so now post complaints they can't undo it and that the QuickenDot server is constantly down, causing problems/delays when trying to connect to other accounts using a one-step update.
  
  Yet another company that's grown totally complacent about product quality while wallowing in its assured-for-the-moment revenue stream. It will bite them hard in the long-run. Postings indicate similar complaining regarding the major competitor product, Microsoft Money. If history is any lesson, there's no reason to suspect that these software products will ever get better under these conditions. Some other product will have to steal their customer base before they wake up and smell the coffee.
  
  If you are not already committed to either of those two products, take a good long look at open source software such as GNU Cash.
  
  [Update April 15, 2008] Does now connect to Fidelity ... occasionally. When I opened the portfolio area today, the entire computer screen flashed with confusion and the product crashed. 2005 never once crashed. Still flashing but no subsequent crashes. Who knows what happened. Not me. Apparently not Quicken programmers either.
  
  [Update July 12, 2008] Connects now more or less on regular basis. Software still flashes/flickers routinely. Also slow to load, apparently trying to read every single record into RAM, regardless of age. Pop-up screen this morning stating "We've noticed you are not downloading your current Quicken Visa/MasterCard transactions, click here to ..." I don't have one. Obviously a deceptive come-on intended to trick users into the application process for a Quicken credit card. Nice. Still constantly beg-screens me to take the lastest software update.
  
  [Update October 18, 2008] Just downloaded this week's financial transactions and Quicken wiped out four months of reconciliation on one of my credit cards ... again. When Quicken goes under, I'm going to wear a pink tuxedo to the funeral.
  
  
• Works fine for me
  By A1KDDNBKA3N25T on 2008-10-12
  It has way more than I will use. I am not sure why others complain so much. I have never had a problem.
  
  
• Fine Update
  By A3P4HW5J9I9DEB on 2008-11-25
  I have used Quicken Deluxe for many years, with many updated versions. This one; Quicken Deluxe 2009 installed over my previous, Quicken Deluxe 2007 perfectly, with no problems at all. I currently use Microsoft XP. Quicken,first uninstalled my previous version, then installed the new version. It saved all of my data files, and updated them with no problems. I am not sure why some of the reviewers have had problems. Quicken also has email support, with a quick turn around for answers. I don't think you will have problems.
  
  

• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual
• Iron Man (Single-Disc Edition)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Single Disc)