Rating: 
Summary: TurboTax Deluxe 2002 -- not a friendly application
Review: This software application works as advertised. I've found it to be a great tool for completing my tax return. Unfortunately, what is not advertised is all the side-effects associated with installation.Currently, the application has taken control over my CD-RW. I can no longer install other applications. Granted, this is not a major concern in the next week or two, but it will require me to remove ALL TurboTax software from my computer as soon as tax season has passed (for those filing extensions, looks like you won't be installing software anytime soon). In the meantime, I've got $150 worth of software I thought I'd be able to use, that's been rendered junk-status until I remove TurboTax. Funny, when I bought my computer, I thought I had control to install programs of my choosing. I guess Intuit prefers to retain control of my choices as long as TurboTax is installed--and let me warn you, TurboTax is not friendly to other software installations. Good luck if you choose to continue down this path. You never know when the software's going to become more trouble than its worth; and just think, you're actually paying to play in this mine field.
Rating: 
Summary: No Problems
Review: I have used both of the major tax prep programs out there, and cant say that I find one that much better than the other. I like the way Turbo Tax presents the information. Thats why I use it. As far as installation goes, I had no problems. My computer works the same now as it did before. I am running this on a older P3-450 and havent had my computer slow down at all. I would definately reccomend this product. There are still some issues that frustrate me with updates, but overall the product was definately worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Product Activation Forces Switch to TaxCut
Review: Count me as another voice condemming Intuit for their product activation schemes. I have been using (and paying for) their products for ~7 years. I believe that Intuit can try to fight piracty, but has to do so in a way that does not impact me (no Activation, no C-Dilla). It is not reasonable to restrict my use of the product to a single PC. I also think that Intuit did a lousy job communicating what they were doing with this aspect of the software. So count me among the many that made the switch to TaxCut this year.
Rating: 
Summary: Pass on Turbo Tax
Review: This is probably the 10th year I have used Turbo Tax, and I have been very disappointed this year. I don't think I will ever buy this product again. First of all, after spending hours preparing my taxes, Intuit insisted I get an online update - but they had a bug in the software that destroyed the file! Trying to get help is a joke -customer service was impossible to reach, the instructions they posted on-line to correct the problem were impossible for a lay person to understand, and as a final insult, even the online feedback form didn't work! Secondly, their help section seems to shrink every year while their efforts to "upsell" additional items has grown. There were several sections where there was NO help on a particular question in this year's version. These were basic questions - my tax return is not complicated. Intuit has become more and more obsessed with finding ways to make me pay more for their service. This year, the final straw was when I wanted info on small business exemptions. This information was included in previous versions - now it is [$] more dollars! They made this section as information free as possible, simply to upsell me the answers. I think a reasonable person assumes that information is included in the program and an ethical organization does not pretend to sell you a complete product for one price, knowing that you will have to pay more to get full answers later on. This is not the only thing they tried to sell me. They also try to sell everything from Quicken, live tax advice ([$]), IRA advice, Internet service providers. It's out of control. My long-time loyalty has finally waned, and I will be examining other products next year. I've heard good things about Tax Cut and will give it a try.
Rating:
Summary: misleading and deceptive
Review: I bought TurboTax Deluxe (vs. the regular product) because it came with a "free" state tax download. Actually, you need to first buy the state product and then file for a rebate of the purchase price, after jumping through all sorts of hoops and a mound of paperwork. I have long since thrown away the box that the product came in, so guess what: no state tax download. I called Intuit and--after wading through endless voicemail prompts for half an hour--told them this wasn't fair. The customer service rep said "life isn't fair." Needless to say, this is the last product I will buy from Intuit.
Rating:
Summary: ouch - had to reinstall windows
Review: wow - stay away - i had to reinstall windows after this c-dilla program was on my pc. not worth it, and taxcut is much better
Rating:
Summary: Atrocious
Review: If you've used TurboTax in the past then this edition will be familiar to you. Unfortunately part of the new edition is a ... program called C_Dilla. Granted it's in the license, but they should know better before installing something that will slow your computer down. I will never use Turbo Tax again because of this violation of trust.
Rating:
Summary: I RATE A NEGATIVE 5
Review: The following is a synopsis of a conversation with Robert Loughery at Intuit in trying to find out why I could no longer write CD's. Note that pretty much IRREVERSIBLE damage is done to your drives.....Read on _________________SNIP__________________________ OK, I have talked today with Robert Loughery at Intuit Today. Our conversation was interesting and informative. First off let me say that I truly believe that Intuit finds our concerns (the consumers) valid and are apparently scrambling for resolutions. They don't seem to take these things we have addressed in this forum and others lightly. After extended listening to my troubles with the software and my hardware Robert Loughery wanted to make it VERY clear that Intuit is going to look at changing the way that the Software Authentication process occurs. I informed him that I personally have no problem with some type of Authentication and I even encourage it. I DO have a problem of a piece of software that runs a TSR process and also writes to low-level sectors of my hard drive. When I asked him about this Robert Loughery responded that it indeed was using those sectors (already proven) and that the purpose of it was so that if a person had to format their drive that it would still be available when a person re-installed the software. When I asked if the C-dilla removal tool they posted removes the software added to your low-level sectors he responded no, that it did not. This is something I still have great trouble with. In the industry this is often referred to as a "hidden feature" in a jokingly manner! Hidden features are intentional software "features" that do something that a vendor doesn't necessarily want you to know what it does. I will not at this point venture what this "feature" does but As I wrote in a follow-up email that included some diagnostics for his team to try to identify my loss of use of my MSI 8348-A CD Writer, I NEVER want a piece of software to write to a portion of my drive where I cannot easily remove it. By definition, the behavior of this feature is still a "virus" as it has done unwanted modifications to my system. For those they have already installed TurboTax you are in the same boat as I am. There is only one way to completely remove the C-dilla software from your drive and that is to low-level formatting of your drive. If you are unfortunate as I am you own an IDE drive and that is NOT something to do lightly. As a matter of fact I hesitate even mentioning it because of the danger involved. After a couple hours of pulling log files etc for Intuit to look at and in my considering of the implications of this I am STILL uncertain what action I should or will take. I truly consider my 3-month-old 120GB Hard Drive as trashed and also the loss of my Windows XP since it is difficult to move it to another new drive. Everything else I can re-install with no trouble. From this point I will be looking at replacing this drive. I'll see if I can safely image it without copying over the low-level sectors to the new drive. Then and ONLY then would I consider doing a low-level format of my drive. I am an unemployed Mill worker who is in retraining and simply do not have the liquid cash to buy what I want on a whim. For me this is a serious burden.
For all involved this raises all sorts of ethical, moral and financial issues for anyone that distributes or uses this type of software. To end on a positive note I am certain that Intuit will try to resolve these and other issues and minus the problem the "c-dilla virus" has and will cause me, I will be happy to see them take a different approach next year. I STRONGLY suggested that Macrovision software NOT be used. So now it is a wait and see process. Darn it! I want to end on a positive note but I am VERY upset that INTUIT had the nerve to write to hidden sectors of my drive! And Yours! I cannot be as positive as MikeCPA is in this regard. What is to stop them from doing it again? I am now going in search of a piece of software that will stop that kind of activity. Anyone know of any good ones? Kenneth Hartman
Rating:
Summary: another long time TT user going to TAX CUT!
Review: I've used TT (and Quicken, another Intuit product) for years now, and although the ads were becoming annoying, considered it the cost of doing business. (There were a few icons on the desktop last year as well.) Really, the programs were great, and I recommended them to several others over the years. But this year, forget it. No product is good enough to justify the arrogance and sloppiness of the draconian activation issue... and c_dilla crosses the ethical line! So Taxcut, here *I* come, too!
Rating: 
Summary: Love it!
Review: I've been a TurboTax user for years and think the product rocks. I was just at a "User Interface Engineering" summit this past week and believe it or not, the subject of TurboTax came up during a session break (given tax season right around the corner). The opinion of this group of highly critical UI centric people was very favorable. We discussed many of the features and their implementation as examples of a "Great UI". "Great" meaning, intuitive, easy-to-learn, and presenting a natural workflow for its end users.
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