Migrating software

X-post to Quickbooks group snipped...

Is there a reason why you can't reuse the same registration code when you install the software on the new OS install? Did you lose the registration code? I had my hard drive fail last year and I did not have to pay Intuit or any other company to reinstall Quickbooks, peachtree, Quicken, or a host of Microsoft software because I had my registration codes.

Thanks Laura. The reason is that the registration code for this product changes with each installation. Yes, I have the original codes but they are useless after the software has been installed for the first time. Very frustrating.

Duuno if it'll work on your version, but on QB6 if you export the registry branch for Intuit sometime soon after install, and save it as QB.reg, after next time you install, double click QB.reg and this should set the registry back to 'registered'. If you do this (saved reg) before you entered your registration number, then everytime you run QB.reg, the counter for 'you can use quickbooks X times before you register' is reset to what it was when you saved and resumes countdown from there.

Pete

Not any more do you need to pay Quicken Australia for a re-registration.

The ACCC and Reckon have come to an agreement where you may be entitled to a refund and a $45 rebate on any upgrade of a Quicken product as a result of an issue relating to incorrect notification of that policy.

I am not sure about the migration - it may or not be possible. But if you need to reactivate, part of your concerns are now over. You should be able to do it online without the need to call .

Bob Williams

That's excellent news Bob. Thanks for being informed. I will follow this ruling up.

In addition to Bob's advice, I'd strongly suggest running down what's wrong with Win XP on your machines. I have 2 Dells (laptop & desktop) running XP, and had another laptop before the current one with XP, and never had to reinstall the OS on any of them...and BTW I always install Microsoft's recommended updates. If updating is the cause of your XP problems, you may need one or more updated drivers.

David Becker

I would imagine that some people give their PCs a harder workout than others. For those who love diggin deeper into Windows mysteries, accidents happen frequently and reinstalls become common.

That sounds like pure thievery to me...they get paid to allow you use what you bought and cope with the bugs they are too greedy or too dumb to fix.

You can get around the activation problem in the future by making an image of the c: partition with an imaging program like Acronis' True Image. It's downloadable for $30 USD at

through today. Other imaging programs will work as well but I just mentioned this one because it's on sale and it works well for me.

If you put your OS and all apps on the c: drive and set path for all data, email and favorites to another partition, you will not have any maintenance to do on xp or Quicken after you reinstall the c: image made earlier.

Having to reinstall XP can be a sign your HD is failing. I speak from painful experience.

It can also be a sign of spyware or viruses.

3 great anti-malware tools:

Spybot Search & Destroy Ad-Aware McAfee Stinger

Also, Microsoft has a new tool Anti-Spyware. Have yet to try it since the above work flawlessly together (unless you need CWShredder).

I download Stinger and run it on a client machine first. This handles most viruses and trojans, 42 of the most common current bugs. I then download and run both Ad-aware and Spybot. I find that between those two they eliminate all spyware, adware, malware and foistware dumped on most machines. What Ad-Aware misses, Spybot finds and vice-versa.

I don't know how many times I have heard the same advice regarding Adaware and Spybot. Free though they may be, you get what you pay for at times, so many times I have to clean computers that people think are protected by those two programs.

Personally I prefer Spysweeper, but Sunbelt Software CounterSpy 1.0 (is the most effective remover of spyware, according to reviews in PC World and Laptop Magazine. When used with the free HijackThis program, PC World says the two apps caught 100% of the nuisances tested.

Opinions are like a**** everyone has one.

Gary

It seems that Spybot and Adaware are only designed to find certain things.

My daughter's machine got infected with some sort of junk. AdAware and Spybot did not detect the Toolbar I was trying to remove. I finally downloaded Spysweeper and it found and removed it plus a bunch more stuff.

First thing I would do is throw away and upgrade to Win 2000 Pro. Then I believe it will work on your version, my last need to do so was I think on QB 2003 but I copied the complete QB directory onto the new installation then reinstalled QB into that directory and everything worked fine. I had to do this several times because I was using Win 98. Intuit told me it could not be done. Bro. Bob

If you're into tweaking to that degree, then you should have no trouble making an image to start from. Get your software all installed cleanly and everything configured "right" (shut down un-needed services, punch in the Quicken activation code, etc.) and then burn an image to CD or DVD using something like Ghost. Next time you hose the system, pop the image disc in and restore to your known good point.