Rating: 
Summary: Quicken 2004 Works Like a Charm for Me
Review: After reading all the negative reviews of Quicken 2004, it was with much reservation that I finally ordered and installed this package. But after the advisories from banks and brokerages that confirmed that the days of my Quicken 2000 were numbered, I succumbed to the inevitability of an upgrade. (But not until I first tried to go the Money 2004 route with a trial version. But I found that Money was not able to successfully convert my Quicken files-rendering Money useless.) The Q'04 Deluxe install went without a hitch and three and a half years of Quicken data was successfully converted to Q2004. (One of the first things I did was download the R5 upgrade to the purchased level.) Yes, the screen layouts are different, but I found it easy to re-orient. And I found them more useful and informative. With this latest version, I have finally been able to automate updates to 2 IRAs, 2 401-Ks, 2 credit unions and a bank with single keystroke (well, almost-one bank requires a small bit of manual intervention). I've been using Q2004 for about 4 weeks. I'm still discovering some of the useful features beyond what I'd seen in Q2000. Net is that so far, my experience with Quicken '04 has been very positive and I'm happy with the upgrade. For whatever reasons, I'm just not seeing the problems (speed, on-line access, access to budget date, etc.) that I've seen referenced. So I'm thinking that there must be a silent majority of Quicken '04 users who are more or less satisfied that are not writing reviews. If that were not so, I suspect the Quicken folks would be have folded up their tents and the stores would be pulling it off the shelves. Could it be better-sure. For example, I'd like a better way to map downloaded transactions to categories I've defined. And I'd like to automate the keystrokes required to get into some bank account that don't allow for total automation. For reference, I run this on under WinXP Pro on a Toshiba laptop (1.1 Ghz) with DLS connection to the internet and although I am an experienced PC user (and A+ certified), I found that getting Q'04 up and running was straightforward without drawing on any special training or knowledge other than perhaps my experience with Quicken 2000. (I'm not an Intuit bigot-in fact I prefer TaxCut to TurboTax.)
Rating: 
Summary: A major disappointment
Review: I've been using this program since way back when and loved it. But then I was forced to upgrade because they are no longer supporting Quicken 2000 (which I have used for ages without problems).I couldn't even register the program. Contacted support and they "helped" out with suggestions such as "disable your firewall" which we know how risky it can be, "uninstall and re-install in a new folder", "install in Safe Mode", this last option didn't even work... After comings and goings I've decided to return the product for a refund and start looking for another option. Bought TurboTax too and it's the same crap. Guess the game's over for Intuit.
Rating:
Summary: Much SLOWER than Quicken 2000
Review: For some reason, typing into the payee or memo fields of the register is extremely slow. There is a very perceptible and annoying lag between pressing a key and seeing the character show up on the screen. This is on a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 with a gigabyte of memory. I'm truly astounded that Intuit could manage to screw up something so simple!
Rating:
Summary: What is going on at Intuit???
Review: At first I wasn't going to write this because I didn't want to pile on, but if it helps warn people, then it is worthwhile. Having been a Quicken user since it first came out, I have always loved this program and have upgraded every year. But in the last few releases (since 2002), this product has actually gotten worse, not just in terms of bugginess, but in terms of usability. Not only is Quicken 2004 full of bugs, but it takes longer to do many tasks... for instance, I have to manually enter most of my downloaded brokerage transactions now because the program does not interpret most of the downloaded transaction properly. With each new version, this program is getting more cumbersome to use and more unreliable. And customer service, both in person and online support, has deteriorated to the point that it is useless. After over ten years of Quicken, I even downloaded a trial version of Microsoft Money for the first time, despite an extreme aversion for Microsoft software. Not sure that that is a great alternative but I am running out of patience. I have never seen a program "devolve" so badly in such a short period of time. What is happening at Intuit? Is there any other alternative out there???
Rating: 
Summary: Nice, but many bugs
Review: I will start with the fact that I like the interface. I upgraded from 2000 (which I loved) because Intuit will no longer offer the online features with 2000 (makes me wonder if I'm going to need to buy new software every year). My data converted just fine. Now, however, I cannot access any budget data. Anytime I try to look at my budget, I get a fatal error and the program shuts down. This goes for the "overview" information on all accounts as well. I was on the phone with Tech Support, who had me do a "safe" install...that didn't work. They ended it by telling me that there is somehting else on my computer causing the problem. Gee, thanks.. Now I cannot seem to go back to 2000. Beware...only upgrade if you cannot live without the online stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Glad I made the upgrade
Review: I've been a Quicken user since version 99. I have never upgraded, but was forced to do so to maintain my ability to download transactions. I had Quicken Basic 99, so went and bought Quicken Basic 2004. Well, I use Quicken to track my investments and Basic is really just a glorified checkbook. I returned the Basic for the Deluxe. I first backed up my 99 data to a CD(x2 just in case data became corrupted and needed to reinstall 99). Then uninstalled Quicken 99. I then installed Quicken Deluxe 2004 and restored data from the CD backup. Conversion took a while (maybe 20 minutes....I was getting nervous after all I had read). When I loaded it for the first time I was delighted. All accounts appear unharmed, my scheduled transactions remained, and everything is working as it should be. Getting my updates is also very easy. I am glad I made the upgrade (now that it is done and working well), but am still angry that I was forced to make the change.
Rating: 
Summary: Lucky Again
Review: I purchased Turbo tax Deluxe and Turbo Tax State and Quicken Deluxe 2004. I had no problems with my Turbo tax federal or State Returns...See my review on the Turbo tax product. I have been using Quicken 1999 Deluxe since 1999 and love it. I got the pop up that in 4/04 need to upgrade. So I went here and read all the negative press and almost...almost was scared away. I went to Best Buy last night and bought all three programs. Figured with $30 back on Quicken I figure $10 was worth the risk. Had Quicken 1999 on this computer popped in the disc it asked to remove Q99, I said sure, it left the computer, and the process began. ***Back up your old Quicken just to be safe!!!!******Registured...no problem, it actually took my Turbo Tax registration, and completed it quick. I was entering my data with 20 minutes. Updated my stocks no problem. Problems I saw during my first hour.
It will take a while to get used to the new layout. I've been using Q99 for 5 years so not too fond of the new layout yet. On the investing part it left out Average price of stocks. I use dollar cost averaging purchasing so I'll find away around it. backup took 5 discs instead of 2, I'm lucky I have a CDRW so that won't be a problem. All in all I am happy with the new version, and the conversion was a snap. So I believe there are Microsoft loyalist posting here, or people who have been using the software for free, or people who are up set about having to shell out $40.00. I'm sure I'll come across some errors as I go through this as I did with Q99, but for everything else that it does I'll get over it. Regarding Tech Support...I've learned that they are all pretty much terrible. If you find good Tech Support somewhere...anywhere please let me know.
Rating:
Summary: When Good Software Goes BAD
Review: In my thirty-seven years of existence I have never been agitated enough about a product to write a complaint letter / review; however, Quicken 2004 is so horrible I just had to warn people. DON'T' BUT THIS PRODUCT. I have been a Quicken user for over 10 years, and I 'm just amazed at the poor quality of this release. The user interface is clunky and quite often flashes unnecessarily, on-line updates often fail, and one of my on-line accounts is de-activated because Quicken keeps sending the wrong password intermittently. And what genius decided to put the "accept all transactions" button so close to the "accept a single transaction" button. Twice now, I have accepted all transactions with invalid categories, because I mistook one button for the other. Buyer Beware!
Rating:
Summary: This product is terrible
Review: I have spent most of the day trying to convert from Quicken 2000 which I was very happy with. I have used Quicken since version 4. I have recommended it to many people. I was on the phone to India for 2 1/2 hours. At various points I was offered $1.95 per minute to answer a simple question like, why do I have to sign up for Quicken.com to continue when I don't want to use it. The we spent 2 hours trying to get my data imported with the result that she said I should send in a CD of my Quicken 2000 data and pay them $200 and they would convert it. While I was on hold, I found the problem, a bug in the product that changed a negative number into a positive number in the translation. After getting it more or less working, I do a net worth graph and see that my net worth has changed by 60% in one month (I wish). Even if it worked, the interface is terrible. All of this was triggered by them breaking the program I had by removing the download support. Quicken 2000 was perfectly fine. Now they are going to force me to upgrade every few years. It takes me a full day to upgrade. That makes for a very expensive program as far as I am concerned. Don't buy it if you can help it.
Rating:
Summary: Wish I could give this a Negative Star
Review: I've used Quicket since 1998 and upgrade every two years. Bought this product almost two months ago (wish I'd read these reviews) and have had nothing but problems. It keeps crashing and so I went to the web site and did an product update. Stopped crashing but then all of my data was corrupted. (Said I had a net worth of $2.4 million) Did the online help and they told me to uninstall and reinstall & upload the updates and then go back to my original data from when I first converted to 2004. Did this and had to re-enter all information from about three weeks. Data continues to become corrupted with faulty reporting. I have spent countless hours reloading and updating and finally gave up. Found an old 2002 file from first of January and I'm in the process of installing 2002 back on and updating all transactions (stock dividends & investments can't be done automatically). Don't buy this product. A company as large as Intuit has to fix this. It's a disgrace.
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