Another Quicken 2003 vs 2004 post

They are about the same the way I remember but you should consider online downloading. If you had been doing online downloads you probably would not have quit. It takes me less than 5 mins every couple of days to download and catagorize over 10 accounts both investment and banking. The reward is having a complete handle on all your finances and best of all, max number of deductions when it comes to tax time.

I found the answer to "Is Q2004 better than Q2003?"... NO!

(And the article grossly overstated the difficulties posed - I use Q2005 and download quite a number of investment transactions from several financial institutions; the problems are minimal. I also tested with Q2004 and Q2006, and results are the same for downloading investment transactions).

Yes, I am confused!

I'm trying to find what BASIC Quicken version is the "best". I'm just looking at regular check book functionality (and also charge card).

I have Q2003D, but it uses a sheet load of hard disk space. I'm wanting to replace Q2003D with the 2003 or 2004 BASIC version.

It had not thought about a version of Q could have good check book stuff, but bad investment stuff.

So, is Q2003 BASIC or Q2004 BASIC better (again, I don't care about investment stuff)?

Thanks for your help.

Mike

Why not go with 2006? You can find it on ebay for next to nothing and it's pretty decent software. And coming from me, that is indeed an objective and honest statement, since I find Intuit's customer service and marketing practices detestable and deceptive.

Hark

I need 2004 or earlier... so, is Q2003 Basic better or worse than Q2004 Basic?

Mike

Ah, missed that. Your bank doesn't allow direct connect?

Hark

If you aren't planning on entering investment transactions, I would ignore the article you linked to.

I can't answer that question very well, I have never used any "Basic" version of Quicken; and I never used Q2003 at all.

I'm not sure I understand wanting to go from an already owned Deluxe version to the same year Basic version.

I can tell you that Q2004 made a change to the definition of "Internal Transfer" which made reports needing that option more difficult to customize. (I tested for several months with Q2004 H&B, but opted for Q2005 Deluxe instead).

Well, I think the Basic version would be *much* smaller in installed size (?? MB vs 64 MB), and less clutter in the Quicken GUI.

Anyone have a clue how big is a Q2003 Basic install?

My usual install method of *any* software, is a custom install to install the main program and Help file.

Some software installs old DirectX, old Quicktime, old Acrobat, and a gazillion different language files.

I'm an old bald retired guy, and I believe the more options you have, the more likely they are going to break. My powered car antenna stopped working, my powered door locks quit working, my remote control door locks quit working, my cruise control stopped working... I just donated my car to the local High School. They should never run out of stuff to fix!

Mike

And I think it's not very likely there will be much, if any, difference in the size of the various versions; I'm pretty sure the same code is in all versions, it's just not all usable unless you have paid for it.

As for the GUI, I can't say for sure what you would experience, but for me it would be unnoticeable; a couple of additional menu choices here and there, a couple of additional tabs here and there (which don't have to be clicked and which don't use up any otherwise usable space since they sit alongside other tabs that will remain), the odd additional button (also generally not taking up space that could be used on anything else). [Based on a quick check of the differences between Q2005 Deluxe and Q2006 Premier.]

OK, I'm staying with Q2003.

Thanks to eveyone for the help!

Mike

I go with the 2003 since you are concerned about size. The basic version will do the same financial and banking calculations the delux will do. You just don't get all the extra crap that makes the program bloaded. Retirement planning, and some other crap.

No and no.

Pretty much the same size. In this day and age of cheap disks, nobody cares much about the installed footprint, certainly not a few MB this way or that way.

In Quicken you get to choose ONLY the install location, nothing else.

Quicken installs a gazillion icons on your desktop instead.

Just how old was the car? :)

Hanging on to a Ford for the best part of 13 years show a good deal of resolve and internal fortitude! ;)