Upgrading Quicken from 98 to ?

People that experience problems are generally a lot more vocal than users that have no issues. Upgrade to 2006. You should run the current version. Whatever problems exist will be addressed through service releases throughout the coming months. I have been running Quicken since Jan 1995 and have always upgraded when new versions are released. That's a lot of history and experience and I say go with the current version.

Thanks. I am not really concerned about individual problems, but rather with a situation when my bank advise me not to use newer Quicken in my online banking situation due to some licensing problems. I would definitely not pay attention at that "noise" and wait for service releases unless Quicken itself would not make statements that clearly indicate that they have no commitment to backwards compatibility. I used Quicken for ages, (actually I still have the manual from my 1989 version) but this scares me. I start to feel like a MS Windows customer, at the mercy of whatever new and aggressive nameless marketing team within Quicken will come up to to satisfy some Wall Street analysts. And this is my money we are talking about, banking accounts imports , etc. Now I have to pay licensing fees through my bank to Quicken to use new versions? I do not think so. If I upgrade to Quicken Deluxe 2004, how much new technology will I be missing from 05 and 06? Are these major upgrades?

Thanks a million.

Alex.

Hello, Alex! You wrote on Wed, 26 Oct 2005 10:26:22 GMT:

AC> Thanks. I am not really concerned about individual problems, but rather AC> with a situation when my bank advise me not to use newer Quicken in my AC> online banking situation due to some licensing problems. AC> I would definitely not pay attention at that "noise" and wait for AC> service releases unless Quicken itself would not make statements that AC> clearly indicate that they have no commitment to backwards AC> compatibility. I used Quicken for ages, (actually I still have the AC> manual from my 1989 version) but this scares me. I start to feel like a AC> MS Windows customer, at the mercy of whatever new and aggressive AC> nameless marketing team within Quicken will come up to to satisfy some AC> Wall Street analysts. And this is my money we are talking about, AC> banking accounts imports , etc. Now I have to pay licensing fees AC> through my bank to Quicken to use new versions? I do not think so. AC> If I upgrade to Quicken Deluxe 2004, how much new technology will I be AC> missing from 05 and 06? Are these major upgrades?

AC> Thanks a million.

I'm another yearly upgrader, having using Quicken since QDOSv3.0. Although I don't recall the specifics on Quicken '98, I *can* tell you that an awful lot of good improvements have been made since then. Q2006 is a significant improvement, even over v2005 (IMNSHO), even though the user interface didn't change much this year. (Mostly bug fixes and improvements in reporting, investment accounts, etc.)

Your bank should not be charging you to use a newer version of Quicken. If they are not willing to provide you with up-to-date services, move on. There are plenty of banks and credit unions that will do so free of charge.

If you have never imported/exported a *.QIF file, then you should not be negatively affected by upgrading. Definitely go with v2006. BUT, before you do, back up your data file and stash it safely away. Then make a copy of your data file and validate that. If all goes well, go ahead with the upgrade. There are a number of Quicken users among my family and friends, and I find that those who have problems with data corruption tend to be those who seldom upgrade ... and who have not verified the integrity of their data set prior to upgrading. Even though Quicken makes a backup for you when you upgrade to a new version and convert your data to the new format, it doesn't verify data integrity prior to doing so. AND, Quicken's setup uninstalls the previous version. So, if you experience problems with your data after upgrading, you then have to uninstall the new version, reinstall the old one, and retrieve the prior version's backup in order to correct the problem. If you make backups & copies beforehand, and verify that data, you shouldn't experience problems. And in the event that you do, you'll be able to deal with it without the above-mentioned hassle and risk of experiencing data loss.

My 2 cents,

Regards, Margaret

Thanks.

Alex.