Should Quicken Be Doing This?

Create a shortcut on your laptop's desktop that points to the data file on the remote computer. Then use this shortcut to start Quicken. It's been a while since I've done this, so I'm not sure if Quicken can use a UNC path (\\hostname\share\...) or if it requires you to actually map the remote share to a drive. Perhaps someone else can comment on this last detail.

Regards,

Margaret

From what I've read, Q definitely needs a mapped drive.

Okay guys, what's a mapped drive and how do I do it?

Go into My Computer (Windows explorer) and click on Tools>>Map Network Drive. Click on Browse and navigate to the folder on the other computer containing the Q file. Make sure the "reconnect at logon" box is checked. Click ok.

Be advised: Intuit strongly recommends against accessing your Quicken data via a network. They say it will - eventually - corrupt your data.

I think this is a case of FUD. It *is* a concern if you are "sharing" the database files. It's always a possibility that network files can get corrupted, but I really don't think that Q is any more sensitive than others......

I'm inclined to believe Intuit; they have gone out of their way to make the point. Why would they say this if they did not have evidence that it was true?

That's awful.

I've been doing precisely that for the past 2 years starting with Q2003. We have multiple portable computers in our household, no desktops, and we sure aren't going to put financial data on a laptop that goes out in the world with us and could get stolen, encrypted or not. All our sensitive data is centralized onto a server running 24/7 so that it can be backed up regularly and accessed from any computer in the house.

It seems to work fine as long as the Samba share is mapped to a drive letter. If this is indeed a problem, then Intuit needs to fix the bug ASAP.

I can't think of a rational alternative to keeping the Quicken data on a network. XP Pro offers file encryption if you use NTFS, but from what I understand there are several security holes in the facility (we aren't even allowed to use NTFS encryption at work). Unfortunately, the other encryption packages I've seen aren't transparent to the system.

Where did you find this piece of information regarding networked Quicken data? Is there more info on under what conditions the corruption occurs?

Thanks -- Mark

This is, IMNSHO, pure CYA. They don't support network sharing and this is their way of making sure that if you share the files and have a problem, they can wash their hands..

Unfortunately, this is not a "bug". It's a "Broken As Designed" problem. Intuit simply doesn't want to have to support Q on networks. I can understand, since you *can* have problems with shared files and you increase the number of ways that unskilled users can muck things up. It would be very costly to provide that kind of support.

Believe me (I've worked with corporate and home networks and mapped drives for almost 2 decades) when I say that you don't have a fundamental problem other than the fact that *any* network shared resource can get corrupted.

Make sure you have multiple levels of backup (locally or on tape) and validate your database on a regular basis. You'll be fine.....

Thanks Hank. I'm very careful with backups, data integrity, and security on the network I maintain at home. If there are no real explicit bugs associated with Quicken accessing its database across a network share, it sounds like I'm OK.

It's good to hear your rational perspective.

-- Mark