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Intuit Quicken 2003 Deluxe (discontinued)

Intuit Quicken 2003 Deluxe

Entered CNET Catalog: 08/02/2002

SKU: 270903

Manufacturer: Intuit Inc.

Manufacturer description

Quicken 2003 Deluxe with easier data downloading gives you the big picture on your finances with less time and effort than ever before. Quicken guides you through an easy-to-follow online setup, so you can download your bank, credit card or brokerage transactions into Quicken instead of typing them! Scheduled Updates now let you download anytime - even while you're asleep - so your data is always ready when you are. Want to save even more time? Pay your bills online directly from Quicken, and download stock quotes, news, asset classes, and more. New Guided Setup makes it so easy to get started! A fresh, updated design makes it easier to see where you stand and gives you quicker access to your accounts and the features people use most.

CNET editors' review

  • Editors' Choice: No
  • Reviewed on: 08/13/2002
Intuit has finally given its personal finance program a makeover. Quicken 2003 Deluxe's $60 (before a $20 rebate for upgrades) updated interface is easier to navigate and delivers even more information without cluttering your screen. In fact, Quicken's interface looks significantly cleaner than Money 2003's. All said, both apps do a stellar job of tracking your finances, but Money's superior service and support make it our Editors' Choice. Current Quicken users should seriously consider upgrading to 2003 if only for the new interface, and sophisticated investors should head for Quicken's Premier edition. Intuit has finally given its personal finance program a makeover. Quicken 2003 Deluxe's $60 (before a $20 rebate for upgrades) updated interface is easier to navigate and delivers even more information without cluttering your screen. In fact, Quicken's interface looks significantly cleaner than Money 2003's. All said, both apps do a stellar job of tracking your finances, but Money's superior service and support make it our Editors' Choice. Current Quicken users should seriously consider upgrading to 2003 if only for the new interface, and sophisticated investors should head for Quicken's Premier edition.

New look gets our vote
Last year, we mentioned that Quicken needed a major overhaul, and we got what we wanted. Quicken 2003's interface finally looks streamlined and up-to-date. Gone are the ancient Quicktabs. Instead, Quicken's Account Bar pane shows on-the-fly totals of your cash and investment assets, as well as your loan (a mortgage, for instance) and debt liabilities, along with a running total of your current net worth--a nifty, if potentially depressing, detail.

As before, you can also access any of your account registers for, say, your checking account, by clicking the account's name in the Account Bar. New tabs in each register account offer quick analytical views, such as a bar chart for income vs. expenses. Longtime users may find this new interface disconcerting at first and may have trouble finding things on occasion. Stick with it, though; in the end, you'll appreciate this cleaner, sleeker Quicken.

Some things never change
The core of Quicken 2003 Deluxe, its new look notwithstanding, remains essentially unchanged. Bill payment is as simple as ever, you can balance accounts in seconds, and Quicken's built-in collaboration with Intuit's TurboTax permits faster tax preparation. You can also use Quicken to easily build and track a budget, schedule payments in advance, or analyze your financial situation with Quicken's 24 reports. For day-to-day money management, Quicken 2003 matches Money. And if you use a Mac, it's even better: Quicken, unlike Money, comes in a Mac version.

But other things do change
Quicken's few enhancements are worthwhile. Online setup now integrates with every account register for easier access to your data, and you can schedule automatic downloads to gather current financial information, from stock prices to online bank statements. Unfortunately, unlike Money, Quicken still won't automatically upload data in the background whenever you're online, so you must either schedule updates or do them manually.

We're also disappointed that Quicken hasn't beefed up its planning features, an area in which it has historically trailed Money. Unlike Money, Quicken doesn't blend its retirement, college savings, and other financial-goal planners into an integrated whole-life planner. Intuit needs to put some work into this area.

And believe it or not, Quicken's Web integration has actually taken a step backward. For example, version 2003 connects to Quicken.com and that site's various online services via the Quicken Browser (Money has nothing similar), an Internet Explorer window that opens atop the main Quicken window and unnecessarily clutters up the screen. We wish Intuit would return to the simpler in situ browser of years past.

Investors, put a buy order on Premier
On the other hand, we're rather bullish on these new investment features. Like Money 2003, Quicken 2003 Deluxe introduces handy tools for investors. The software now integrates with Quicken Brokerage, an online broker (Muriel Siebert & Company) so that you can initiate trades from within Quicken itself and receive alerts and analysis from Siebert.

In fact, dedicated investors should purchase Quicken's more expensive ($80, before the $20 rebate) 2003 Premier version. Premier's excellent new investment tools include Intelligent Alerts, which can let you know, for instance, when a stock is beating the analysts' estimates. And the new Buy/Sell Preview shows the potential return of a sale or purchase before you make the deal.

No weekend or evening support
Quicken offers first-rate support in some areas and subpar technical help in others. The thorough online support site lets you search extensive FAQs and an online database. The phone support, however, stinks. You must pay $1.95 per minute for help on anything other than installation or data conversion. Worse, the phone desk is open only 12 hours per day (5 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT)--not in the evenings and never on weekends. These hours make no sense for a program that you're likely to use at home. In this case, Microsoft does it better.

It's a draw
Despite its paucity of enhancements, Quicken 2003 Deluxe's new look is enough for us to recommend the upgrade. Investors who are serious about their portfolios, even those using Money, should steer for Quicken Premier. If you're happy with Money, not big on investing, and need excellent tech support, stick with what you have.

Your checking account register may look the same in Quicken 2003, but the Account Bar on the left-hand side is new. It shows running totals for crucial accounts and keeps a bottom-line net worth on the screen at all times.

User opinions

Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113

User Rating: 5/10

Cumbersome, complex, and without free support

Pros: check register very good. stock price updates good

Cons: conversion of some accounts from version 6 resulted in some loss of data and less useful format.

Review:

User Rating: 1/10

Went back to Quicken 2000

Pros: It copied my Quicken 2000 files without incident. Everything else is a disappointment.

Cons: Tried Quicken 2003 and went back to Quicken 2000 while I check out MS Money. I need to get off of Quicken. Every release drops user-friendly features. They have completely destroyed the investment price alert interface. Someone should have been fired

Review:

User Rating: 2/10

Help site is poor.NO free support.Can't convert from version 4 so have lost all old records

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Cons: Poor Help. Lost old records because can't convert from old version which was more stable. I dislike the new version and there is no support except by long distance phone call. Geared to Americans not Canadians so I can't even use it for tax. I bought it

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User Rating: 2/10

Get 2004 What a difference!

Pros: The usual Quicken design

Cons: Slow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Support was not good! Problems with Reports

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User Rating: 2/10

Confusing, difficult, and doesn't work well

Pros: I'm sure it works fine, if you can learn how to use it.

Cons: For a first-time user, it is annoyingly complicated. Setting up bank accounts was difficult and full of bugs. Microsoft Money did everything perfectly, and had a much better interface, simple and intuitive.

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User Rating: 2/10

DO NOT UPGRADE

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Review: I wish I had read this comment board before I paid $60 for Quicken 2003. I have used Quicken for about 8 years (version 3) and have updated the software every year. Up until this year I was very happy with the upgrade. Quicken 2003 is the most obnoxious upgrade in software I have ever seen - mainly due to the "In Your Face" advertising and pushing of their product you receive -as well as getting rid of earlier great features (ie, QuickTabs). Due to elimination of Quicktabs you cannot exit the program with oft-used tabs remaining open. The new software has a much less orderly look and feel interface than previous versions - and the bombardment of Quicken this and that services and ads and recommendations is sickening. It's worse than with software that is free. I hope Intuit reads these messages and converts back to their previous ways. Too many people in marketing have taken over this company.

User Rating: 1/10

Frustrating product

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Review: I just bought Quicken 2003 Premier for Home and Business and I can't even get my bank set up with quicken. It is on their "participating financial institutions" list, but when you go to setup your accounts, it is not on the list. Updating does nothing. No one in tech support has any answers. I heard their tech support was bad, but I had no idea how bad. What was I thinking buying an untested version of quicken?? never again.

User Rating: 1/10

Older version was much better

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Review: I update Quicken mainly to get the tax planning tools. This "update" is a disaster. Quicken 2000 was a much nicer, easier to use program. I am very disappointed in this version.

User Rating: 2/10

Pain in butt

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Review: Years ago I tried Quicken for keeping track of my Smith Barney account. Haven't used it in at least 5 years. Still having problems - switch to Money.

User Rating: 2/10

Lack of support

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Review: I had to re-install 2003 on my new PC and kept getting demands to register using "User Name", "Password",User #", as if I was a walking file cabinet. I was unable to reach anyone to help me over this hurdle. Even when I wrote this comment earlier, the mailing failed because the site could not be reached. It's all very frustrating and time-consuming.

User Rating: 3/10

Too Clever for It's Own Good

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Review: Here is the main problem with Quicken: any version. It is so concerned about having cool features and reports and downloading reports that it doesn't actually do the basic stuff! It's a disaster. If you enter data manually, and then try to import data from the web or your financial institution it will be a disaster. Despite my careful checking the data is way off. What the hell is the point when it can't keep your balances straight?

User Rating: 2/10

irritating

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Review: I suppose I knew it was possible to do, but I never expected a "new low" from Quicken. I'm mostly talking about the ads that they paste on my screen every chance they get. When I open the investment page, they try to refer me to a broker, when I open the checking account, they try to refer me to an on-line bank. This is very distracting--like having a back seat driver. I have a about 5K entries in my checking account because I like to be able to look back over they years without having to open an archive. This causes the program to hang regularly. It won't repaint the screen when I switch between windows. Quicken 2K worked fine. I've got 1Gb of ram in my system and their help desk says it isn't enough to have the program work properly. It also hangs trying to access the internet. I have a highspeed lan connection. Sometimes it recognizes it but most of the time it tries to fire up the modem and wastes 4 minutes deciding it can't get on-line. Then it offers me a new ISP. I'm sorry I upgraded. It doesn't work well for me.

User Rating: 8/10

A typical Quicken yearly upgrade

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Review: I have used Quicken for over 10 tears and upgrade every release. I had run Quicken 2002. When I saw the comments in he user reviews I was actually fearful of upgrading to 2003 . . stories of data corruption, floods of ads, tasks being much harder, etc. etc. But . .I went ahead and did it . . and found that most of the comments I had read in the posts were not very accurate. I had NO problems and actually found it to be a typical Quicken yearly facelift. I use virtually all parts of Quicken . . investments, online banking, reporting, etc. I certainly did not find things had become more complex in any area. I also did not find the the volume of ads was any different than Quicken 2002. The biggest difference in the interface structurally is that it does not keep open windows for accounts the way prior versions of Quicken have. Any event. I was discussng with the wife and thought maybe the people with problems or those that see it as radically different are more infrequent upgraders. But I found it to be a worthwhile facelift to 2002. I had no problems and cannot think of anything that is a step backward from 2002. No major advancements either . . but there are plenty of little enhancements.

User Rating: 6/10

Sucks the Big One

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Review: i've been using quicken for five years. this version truly sux. confusing,busy pages, lots o' advertising built in. yuck.

User Rating: 2/10

No support, loads of advertising

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Review: Firstly, odd to pay money for a program littered with commercials - and you can't get rid of them! Secondly, there is NO free support by any means. The program has bugs in it (as many do) which is acceptable if support provides a work-around. Intuit does not. So you pay for a bunch of advertising and a faulty product which they do not support.

User Rating: 1/10

will not update non-quicken brokerage data into portfolio

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Review: Tech support is poor, has cost me more than program. Will not update independent brokage holding prices into portfolio after correctly downloading

User Rating: 3/10

Quicken has lost its charm

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Review: I am a long time quicken user and would have continued to use the product. There are several serious problems: Intuit left a serious bug in the prior version regarding calculating interest on loans. Intead of fixing what is wrong, they try to force an upgrade for a important feature. They have not established an easy rebate free way to upgrade. Instead, they charge a premium and then promise rebates that rarely come. I'm looking elsewhere. Quicken has driven me away. Quicken takes it's users for granted

User Rating: 1/10

What has happened to Intuit?

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Review: Seems like everyone is having problems with Q2003. Me too. I'm a long time user and annual updater, but this version is a piece of garbage. Other people have echoed my problems: I won't repeat them. But I will say that EVERYTHING takes twice as long with Q2003, since the program is always freezing up. Twice now, for no good reason, the program has stopped working altogether, and I've had to reinstall. Also, it seems to take a VERY long time for the program to do ANYTHING (open windows, call up password windows, etc.) having to do with the internet (and I'm running a T1, so it's not MY problem ... Q2002 worked fine). And the on-line chat support is a complete joke. DO NOT waste your time with those so-called service techs, who know absolutely nothing. Quicken used to be such a great program ... what has happened to Intuit?? And don't even get me STARTED on this year's Turbo Tax ...

User Rating: 1/10

If you want spyware, ads, and a slow, clunky UI, buy this software!

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Review: I've avoided trying Microsoft Money for years. Intuit has finally given me a good reason.

User Rating: 3/10

Buy the 2002 version, much better

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Review: Takes longer to use than last years version, with less ease of use. They refused my rebate because I didn't buy it from the right dealer. That wasn't mentioned until I got my rejection. I won't buy Quicken again.

User Rating: 2/10

Terrible Upgrade!

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Review: I've been using Q since the original DOS versions... I even used to get free upgrades! The original product designer's must mortified by this piece of c**p! Unstable, uses too many resources, slow, poor reconciliation... I can only reiterate what numerous others have here. It's time to consider MS Money!

User Rating: 3/10

I HAVE USED QUICKEN SINCE DOS

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Review: This is the worse version and has caused me more lost time.I will no longer ever recommend Quicken

User Rating: 4/10

Bad ROI

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Review: Simply put, I'm frustrated. I've been a long time Quicken user and it has helped me organize my finances for years. A couple of bugs upgrading my data didn't deter me from getting started. What has set me over the edge is their reconciliation function, it just doesn?t work. Quicken believes that transactions are getting modified and screwing up its internal logs. Also I?ve found and reported to Intuit a scenario in the reconciliation procedure where log can?t see transactions in the account. You have to re-enter the transactions when this happens, and forget about copy and paste. It copies the property that hid the transaction in the first place. Bottom line, don?t spend your time or your money on this upgrade, it?s a poor investment of both.

User Rating: 3/10

mediocre product

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Review: Too much advertising. Awkward interface. Poor product support. No email support. Web knowledge base support not kept up to date. Too many useless dialog boxes.

User Rating: 2/10

Screen Adds BAD! Ruined File After 2 Months

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Review: I have used Quicken since 1990 on the PC, upgraded to a Mac version in 2000 both of which had worked well. Then I bought 2003 Deluxe. It was the beginning of the end. The transfer of the QIF file from Mac to Windows proved problematic even after following Intuit's instructions to the letter. The resulting file that was left to import into 2003 was missing inter-account transfers. Then after using the program for 2 months the file lost all the descriptions for all transactions. NOT GOOD! Even the backed up files had the same problem. The account balances were correct, but it was anyone?s guess to whom the transaction went. Don't bother with thinking about getting any direct support. All the web stuff is to make you feel good, but you will not have your problem taken care of unless it is a problem that hits their top "10" list/FAQ. The other thing I found crude was that 1/3 of the screen space was used for permanent Quicken advertising. Come on Intuit! I bought the program to manage my accounts, not to be bombarded with your product advertising and wasting my screen real estate! Final thought. If your current version of Quicken is working, DO NOT upgrade. Quicken 2003 will be the death of your computer money accounting.

User Rating: 2/10

Report feature doesn't work

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Review: Frustrated that there is no help on weekends from Intuit when features of new upgrade do not work.

User Rating: 2/10

Bad upgrade, stick with Quicken 2002

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Review: I've used Quicken since DOS and rely on it heavily. This upgrade is a huge disappointment. I won't repeat the others' comments, which I share. In addition to the awful new interface, which keeps the Accounts list occupying screen space even when you don't want it (replacing an unobtrusive link in the older versions), there is an annoying change in the way the program downloads data. It used to be that downloads were done in the background while the user did other tasks with the program. Now, the downloads either have to be scheduled at preset times or else have to be done whenever the program starts, leaving the user cooling his/her heels while waiting for the task to end (or else just canceling the download). The program uses up so much memory that I can't run other programs with it -- even Turbotax. (I have 512 MB of RAM!!) And it even locks up when being used by itself after trying to open multiple reports. I can't bring myself to move to MS Money yet, but I'm close. I'm hoping that Intuit will issue a fix for some of these things VERY SOON.

User Rating: 1/10

Cluttered screens, corrupted my data

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Review: Migrated from a great working copy of Q2000 to 2003. Spent hours and hours setting up the "new" features. Things were not working right, downloads would not work, electronic payments stopped working. All due to "data corruption". I followed their directions to start over by reinstalling Q2000, but I cannot get it to work now. It keeps shutting down when I try one step upgrade. I did a manual upgrade and now it will not even run. I now have 50+ hours trying to get it to run. I did NOT need this in my life.

User Rating: 1/10

Cluttered views make it unuseable

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Review: I too have used Quicken since 1991. 2003 is horrible, it will not let you change the views, only the accounts you see. So, with all these buttons that are essentially ads for services not included, and lots of scrolling now needed, it becomes impossible to set up a useable view. The program sets up groupings you cannot change, which are useless and make it hard to navigate. The final indignity is that once you convert your data file to the new version, you CANNOT go back to the previous version - you have to use your old data file, and lose any new data since it was installed. Plus, you have to register, have a quicken.com account, etc. to simply use it. Their privacy report says they won't use personal info unless you enter it - but you can't use the program until you do! Quiken is now too arrogant. Since I can't revert to 2002 data, I guess Microsoft Money is my next choice - I'm sure it will convert my data. Don't buy this program!!

User Rating: 2/10

Yikes! Crazy to try to use!

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Review: I have used Quicken forever. Great program but it always seems to me something here and there onthe program just doesn't work. Well Quicken 2003 Premier changed all that. IF I can get past the registration screen, and IF I can get the program to stop being minimized to just sitting onthe taskbar, and IF it doesn't crash the cpomputer for lack of memory (and I have LOTS of memory), then I occasionally can get it to do SOME things. Think twice before upgrading to Quicken 2003. I am NOT impressed.

User Rating: 3/10

Web Portal - not Financial SW

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Review: Very disappointed - Q-2003 is more of a web portal than a financial package. Fully 20% of the screen is dedicated to (unremoveable) adverts for partners and Quicken.com services. I have reverted to Q-2000 and will by more cautious of "upgrades" in the future.

User Rating: 4/10

2003 is a DOWNGRADE with Advertisements

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Review: I have used Quicken since 2000. The 2003 interface is painful and every screen is littered with ADs. If Quicken were freeware I can see it, but for $49.00 you have to be kidding. I addressed this to Quicken Tech Support all they could say is they are sorry.

User Rating: 1/10

Don't buy this product!!!

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Review: first of all, even though you buy the program, inuit has slipped in banner ads within quicken!! You can't get rid of them! Secondly, the interface has become far too complex. Thirdly, they couldn't care less about thier customers any more. No support and a buggy program is a bad combination. It appears to me like this is the end of Quicken consumer and the beginning of a world dominated by MS money.

User Rating: 3/10

Difficult to Use

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Review: I've used Quicken and Quickbooks for years. This version of Quicken tries so hard to add features that it's no longer intuitive. In fact, it's a real pain to use. It also crashes when switching to VIEW 1 every time.

User Rating: 6/10

disappointing 'upgrade' from quicken 2000

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Review: I 'upgraded' from Quicken 2000 to Quicken 2003, and found no new useful features, but plenty more ads. Had I known then what I know now, I wouldn't have paid a dime for this 'upgrade'. If I could downgrade my quicken data file to Quicken 2000, I'd return it.

User Rating: 1/10

DON'T UPGRADE TO THIS!

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Review: I was happy with Quicken 2002. Now, I lost features, lost track of where things are - BIG new learning curve - and it does NOT import your old data well. Expect to lose functionality.

User Rating: 5/10

Crashes often, corrupts data

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Review: Best to avoid an upgrade until the bugs have been worked out. Hopefully Intuit takes reported bugs seriously.

User Rating: 4/10

There are better products out there.

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Review: FIRST POINT and VERY IMPORTANT: There is NO Tech Support when you have problems unless you want to fork out a hefty $1.95 a minute!!! SECOND POINT, plan to have problems. I made the mistake of upgrading from Quicken 1999 to Quicken 2003 (bigger, better, wow!) Here is the sad situation I just came out of. For three days, and for many hours, I tried to get Quicken 2003 to log on to the Internet to register and use the services (that?s why I upgraded). I tried using my Roadrunner cable service (zero). I tried my trusty old 56k modem (nada). Round and round in circles and I got nowhere. Yes, I tried to get help and only got more frustrated and angry at Intuit. The ?help? in the program Quicken did nothing to resolve the problem. Then I went online and found that the WEB Support that Quicken provides was as dismal. So I tried the online Chat --- what a joke. I came home early (and for those that live East of California the Chat support stops at 5pm EST!) to get online with the ?Chat dude?. What a wasteof time, a lot of time. He ask you type in your problem and wait for his next reply. He goes on to a dozen other people before coming back to you so you wait, and wait and wait. When he does come back he is zoned out, forgot what your problem was and asks you some remedial question like, ?Is your computer plugged in??. You get the abysmal picture. Sure you can get human technical support but you will pay $1.95 a minute (and those minutes can rack up). Sure, I kept at it. Yes, I know, that wasting HOURS on a $39 program is a waste of time and as my girl friend lovingly puts it, ?You know what you have is a sickness, don?t you.? I know. But final, the god of gigabits smiled, and per chance, by going back through and check out the security setting of my LAN and Internet I saw that both were on medium security (default setting for one) BUT as soon as I lowered the settings one notch -Voila! I got on. (If you have this problem Try going to 1.settings, 2.control panel, 3.Internet options, 4.security and lowering the security settings.) Quicken 2003 failed me miserably. NOWHERE did Intuit have a notice that these settings could block you from getting on line. NOWHERE. Intuit?s installation is not ?intuitive? enough warn of possible conflict and direct you to reset. The customer tech support is abysmal and that Chat dude was a waste. A product of their stature should give a minimum of 30 day tech support - FREE! I am definitely going to check out Microsoft Money, and I recommend that you do too. Not Recommended

User Rating: 4/10

A step backward from earlier versions

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Review: As a user interface designer I appreciate a UI which helps users do their most frquent tasks. Since I am NOT an accountant I have extra appreciation for the kinds of things Quicken can help with. That said, I find Quicken 2003 a distinct step backward in the usability category. Many features lack functions they had before. The new standard of hiding windows in buttons at the bottom of the screen is nonstandard and confusing, requiring extra mouse clicks. Accepting individual downloaded payments is slower - the disk thrashes each time I press [Enter]. The 'Accept' button for downloaded transactions moves up and down as the needlessly busy screen move items you've accepted above a placeholder line, causing screen flicker as they go. Quickens' proprietary browser (itself a bare-bones program lacking in so many basic browser functions) intervenes frequently with exhortations to login, register or otherwise connect to quicken.com to subscribe to and use extra and superfluous features offered there. It failed often with an 'unable to load page' screen. Quicken is littered with shortcut keys which undermine Windows user interface standards. Ctrl+A normally selects 'all' of an item, yet here it displays the Account List. When I tried to cut, copy or paste text in a text field in the bare bones browser either the action failed or I was shown another screen. Want to review your scheduled transactions? You can't. You can see a list of them, but you can't view existing ones. If you double-click one you get a message saying in effect 'if you want to change this transaction, delete it and create another.' Totally unacceptable. I would have stayed with Quicken 2000 had not my bank told me to upgrade to keep up with their services and file formats. In short, this version of Quicken is a mishmash of conflicting user interface mistakes, an intrusive huckster of Quicken Online services and a slow, bloated program which in the end doesn't offer much new or interesting to veteran Quicken users who simply want to download their transactions, balance their checkbooks and pay their bills with a minimum of hassle.

User Rating: 3/10

Do not upgrade!

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Review: Very lengthy loading period followed by cluttered workspace with ads. Program frequently crashes and support has been very poor. I have been Quicken user for 15 years but am changing to Money.

User Rating: 7/10

Good product, lousy customer service

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Review: This is a review of Quicken Customer Service-- I have used Quicken for fourteen years-since DOS version 2. I have been QUITE satisfied with the product over the years and have only had three problems in all that time. The first time, five or six years ago was resolved quickly; they asked for a file to be sent to them, they fixed it & returned it and Quicken worked for another seven years troublefree. Personal financial programs keep VALUABLE information and also send personal information across the internet, therefore I want my financial program to be beyond reproach and something I have faith in. I realize that programming is tougher these days, but I have had two problems with Quicken 2003 Deluxe for Windows that makes me question its reliability and security. One was fixed fairly quickly, but it required me to manually re-input information back into my files for a couple of accounts; if I had used the backups, the "bug" would have been reintroduced. The other problem is unfixable by Quicken. It is a minor annoyance, but it is the problem that makes me question the security of the program. Here's why-- I use the One-Step Update to download transactions from credit cards, banks, investement accounts, etc. I started getting a warning dialog box from a bank I don't even do business with after the completion of the data transfers. Their online chat help wouldn't even attempt to deal with it. When I called the pay line, they said they would have to charge me for the call time. I accepted, but after working with the telephone tech rep, they couldn't fix the problem (with lots of time on hold while he consulted other-- or maybe just took a coffee break). Then I got a bill for $17 on my credit card! I think if they admit they can't fix a problem, they ought to at least not charge me. I wrote the CEO of Intuit & a couple of months later got a refund, but no other contact from Intuit. It's like they are afraid to talk to me. It seems to me that if I had a problem that they had not encountered before, they would want my files to troubleshoot for their own programmers. But what I am afraid of is that this is a problem that many customers are having and don't want us to know. Bottom line-- Quicken is easy, just don't have any problems because their tech support is not up to the job. After fourteen years of using one personal financial software program, I'm off to purchase MS Money and see how it works. It's too bad they drove a customer (and an evangelist for their product) away.

User Rating: 4/10

buggy

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Review: Loaded Quicken 2003 on Windows XP and converted my Quicken 2002 data to the 2003. Converted document increased my net worth by 50 billion dollars. Yes-50 billion!!! Discovered I could create a new stock and purchase one share and assign a $ 50,000 value to that share and its curent market value became 5 billion dollars in Quicken 2003. Of course my net worth went up accordingly. Hey-then I instructed Quicken 2003 to purchase 100 more shares of the same stock and nothing - I repeat-nothing changed. Its buggy!!!!

User Rating: 3/10

Repeatedly locks up

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Review: When doing online activities that are the core of the system, it locks up. Files become corrupted during this lock up and are unrecoverable. The feedback from the Quicken site is near to useless.

User Rating: 1/10

poor product support

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Review: This product lacks any useful product support. Its obvious that Quicken is only interested in selling the product not supporting it. All you get is limited internet chat time availablity or the online knowledge base, everything else is a cost adder.

User Rating: 7/10

What is INTUIT doing???

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Review: Like many others, I've used Quicken since the DOS era. I can't believe Intuit has allowed the product to deteriorate to the degree they have. It's deplorable. I wish I hadn't upgraded. I feel cheated and I am looking for some way to quit and Quicken and use something else - I suppose Money is the only viable option. Unbelievable. If it's not too late, don't make my mistake. Stay away from Quicken 2003.

User Rating: 4/10

Intuit took a huge step backwards

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Review: I have been using Quicken since the DOS days, and have always sworn by it. I purchased every upgrade up to version 2001. 2002 didn't seem to have anything really new, so I skipped that one. I just purchased 2003 Deluxe, mainly because I didn't want to get too far behind on revisions; I still didn't see any significant new features I was interested in. I immediately disliked the interface. It seems they are attempting to give Quicken a browser-style interface; the main screen looks like a Web Portal page, complete with advertisements. I could understand the ads if the program was free, but since they are charging a premium for the software, forcing me to deal with all those ads is unforgivable. And the large, obtrusive ads aren't even as bad as the more subtle ones which litter every screen, posing as application functions. Gone is the navigation bar, which allowed me to have several accounts, reports, etc. open at once, and easily move around among them. Now many of the screens open as new windows, yet do not appear on the Windows Taskbar. The 2001 Alerts screen was what I lived by, being able to see at a glance what bills I had coming-up. In 2003 only a single alert displayed, which was for a scheduled transaction well past its date (the vendor is late sending a bill). I had to use the "Show all alerts", which like everything else opens in a separate window. The list of my accounts is too long to fit in the new window on the left, yet instead of the obvious solution of having the ubiquitous scroll bar, there are awkward Up and Down arrows above and below the list, flying in the face of any logic. I also had many toolbar tasks set up for access to key credit cards, posting common transactions, etc. Those all went away when I upgraded. And much of the toolbar area is taken-over by two large buttons for "Planning Center" and "Tax Center". This means most of my toolbar actions can only be accessed by first using the "More" button. It seems that Intuit has changed their focus away from developing a top-notch financial application, and are instead attempting to make the Quicken program into a marketing vehicle, with functionality becoming an afterthought. All I can say is that in doing so, they have alienated at least one of their oldest and most faithful customers. I have reinstalled 2001, and am returning 2003 for a refund. Unless Intuit gets their act together, and comes out with a version which returns the functionality which used to be there, then 2001 will be the last version I will use. I will look into MS Money as an alternative, in case Intuit attempts to force an upgrade in the future.

User Rating: 2/10

no good way to budget

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Review: I recently upgraded from quicken 2000, and I plan to uninstall as soon as I can. Unlike quicken 2000, 2003 does not allow you to total your monthly budget when allocating categories. You have to wit around with a calculator and subtotal the budget everytime you make a change!

User Rating: 5/10

Not Worth the Upgrade

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Review: I can't find anything improved from Quicken 2002. It also has the same bugs and adds a few.

User Rating: 3/10

Basically unusable for online banking, etal.

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Review: All online banking, quicken.com sync, and quotes were broken in both the R1 and R3 versions of Quicken 2003. Additionally, Quicken would lock up attempting to respond to the online summary. I'm amazed that it fails so completely in this area when Quicken 2002 never had any issues.

User Rating: 1/10

Hogs User Memory

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Review: After freezing up my Win98 PC repeatedly, I monitored the memory usage and found the Deluxe 2003 requires about 40% of the User Memory (that first 640KB of RAM that the OS and all programs have to share). My PC normally runs with 32 to 36% free User Memory, which is more than enough to run a half dozen large programs at the same time. But Quicken 2003 needs so much User Memory that I can't run Quicken with other programs such as Internet Exporer or MS Outlook. Every time it displays a new window, it eats up more User Memory. In fact, I don't have enough User Memory free to customize a report graph. Quicken says to shut down all other programs, utilities, and TSRs, but that sounds like a very poor solution. I suspect that memory usage problem is at the root of the bugs that others have reported.

User Rating: 3/10

Buggy, don't like new interface

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Review: I upgraded from Quicken 2002 deluxe and can't stand it. Seems like half of what I've tried to do doesn't work - stock spinoffs are valued incorrectly, accounts are not valued incorrectly (it doesn't add or update prices). Checkfree support is gone. Unfortunately, MS money is no better, so I'm stuck; I'm going to go back to 2002 deluxe and stop upgrading until a real software company comes out with a decent personal finance program.

User Rating: 2/10

Don't throw your money away

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Review: I have been using Quicken since Quicken99. Quicken 2003 is nothing but waste of money. There are no new feature those are worth the upgrade. They infect remove the feature, which enables me to use my financial instute's bill payment from quicken. They have added zero new features, and their customer support is non existent.

User Rating: 1/10

Terrible release

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Review: The only thing new about Quicken 2003 is the ads - and there are tons of them. The Cnet review of totally wrong. Like many of the other reviewers, I have been using Quicken since DOS days and have generally upgraded when new releases became available (especially when they are free when combined with a TurboTax purchase). This year I got the free upgrade. Fortunately I backed up the Quicken 2002 files before installing 2003. After attempting to work with 2003 for 3 days I gave up and reinstalled 2002. For new users considering Quicken that don't have access to 2002, try Microsoft Money. The rest of the bad news: 1) It is very unstable - terminating often during simple operations. 2) It takes forever to start up. 3) The user interface is terrible. 4) The ads are totally obnoxious (a significant percentage of the window is occupied by ads).

User Rating: 3/10

Intuit Ruined their product

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Review: This is the worst upgrade. I've used Quicken since version 2 of DOS. I have been a sworn Intuit loyalist - even served on a previous beta team. Next year I will go with Money. STOP MAKING THE INTERFACE MORE AND MORE LIKE A PIECE OF GARBAGE AND WORK ON FUNCTIONALITY!! How about functionality to help us with things we do every day - like a filter in the transaction register - or a better import/export, or an email interface that doesnt suck. Intuit has lost touch with customers.

User Rating: 1/10

A big step backwards from Quicken 2002

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Review: This upgrade is a big disappointment. The new interface is cluttered and annoying. Intuit has adopted the AOL practice of cluttering your desk top with icons which are nothing less than advertisements for other products. The desktop icons are bad enough but the program itself contains advertisements. The program crashed repeatedly during the registration process, I was never able to successfully register it. As I result I was repeatedly reminded to register the program. I found the new interface less user friendly than the previous version and so cluttered that it was a distraction. I ended up removing Quicken 2003 from my computer and gone back to the previous version. In the future I guess I will be looking at MIcorsoft Money.

User Rating: 5/10

extremely slow & quirky to launch

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Review: It takes about 30 MINUTES to be ready for work after launch. It also remains in the background. I have to minimize any other open applications in order to get access to it. It's an awful product. I wish I had stayed with Quicken 98.

User Rating: 6/10

Worst version of Quicken I ever used

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Review: I tried to upgrade to Quicken 2003 from Quicken 99. It hung during the file conversion process. This is completely reproducable and I consider it a bug. Intuit's tech support disagrees. They claim that my data files are corrupted even though their own data validation tools (in Quicken 99) indicate no problems with my data files. I was told to go back to a version of my Quicken files that didn't have the data corruption problem! Exactly which one that would be is anyone's guess since Quicken 99 didn't have any problems with any of my backup files. I would have to try to convert every backup file for the past 5 years until I find one that would convert successfully in Quicken 2003. Even if I could find a backup file that could be converted, if it extended back more than a year, I could spend hours reassembling the data from that point onward. I even tried exporting all the data using Quicken 99 and reimporting it using Quicken 2003, but there were errors--the balances didn't match what I had in Quicken 99. I would still have to go through 5 years worth of financial data to find the discrepancy. Out of sheer frustration, I tried downloading the trial version of Microsoft Money. It converted my Quicken 99 files flawlessly! I fail to understand why Intuit cannot make a product that can properly read their own files, but Microsoft has no problems doing it even though Microsoft (presumably) doesn't have access to the internal workings of Quicken. I promptly tossed Quicken 2003 in the trash and picked up a copy of MS Money 2003 Deluxe. Intuit just lost a 5 year customer.

User Rating: 3/10

Feature Rich and Hard To Use!

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Review: Quicken 2003 has adopted a Microsoft-style "do it our way" format that makes their product harder to use. Gone are the user control over the desktop, and the intuituve navigation that made 2002 one of their best versions. Intuit has added few features to the 2002 version, making it a "no brainer" to stick with 2002.

User Rating: 1/10

DON'T UPGRADE to 2003

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Review: I've used Quicken since it was invented - and this is the worst! It scrambled my old (imported) data file - Quicken tech support didn't help. I had to start from scratch. Really bad news - the new version in conjuntion with Wells Fargo Bank will not let you revert - it updates the files on the bank's server! So I'm stuck. I had to manually delete all of the tnx shortcuts (hundreds - no easy way - had to click and delete each one). Plus - menus are chopped off (macos X) so reports are useless.

User Rating: 3/10

Don't Upgrade - Horrible

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Review: I have used Quicken since the days it ran in DOS. I have done my part to archive old data and keep my data file in decent shape since I know Quicken is known to corrupt its own files. However, Quicken 2003 has repeatedly trashed my file after online opeations. I have done everything Quicken support recommends to no avail. I am back to reconstruting my data in Quicken 2002. I am seriously considering switching to Money. Quicken support is beyond bad and any product that cannot maintain its own file structure without corruption is not one I can rely on any longer.

User Rating: 3/10

Stay with Quicken 2002

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Review: Internet connection/downloading part of program is highly unstable. Locks up cpu over 50% of time. Same problem with two different computers and two different ISPs. Running version Quicken Deluxe R3. Quicken knowledge base is of no help.

User Rating: 7/10

Cluttered, boring interface

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Review: First problem with stability was immediate. One Step Update downloaded Quicken Deluxe update, and updater crashed with invalid page fault several times. Cannot turn off multiple ads for Quicken products cluttering user interface. I don't mind free adware, but not for $60. Also could not find a way to change boring color scheme. Account access is improved over my 2001 version, but still not as easy as the tab method used in early versions. (previously posted in error to Quicken 2002 review. Comments relate to Quicken Deluxe 2003)

User Rating: 6/10

Full of bugs. Some are serious!

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Review: One of the worst bugs is that if you have two investment accounts that have the same company symbol in them, it overstates the value of both accounts on the side bar where it totals up you various accounts. Watch out!! NO Support!

User Rating: 2/10

Beware of 2003!

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Review: I've used Quicken for many years from the old DOS versions through the new 2003. 2003 is annoying in that memorized reports sometimes place themselves in sub categories of other memorized reports so that you can't easily find them. If you tell a report to replace itself (rather than create a new report), it does not always comply. And why is it so difficult for Quicken programmers to get your split detail report to show a total of the transaction? I wish I could get rid of the "home page screen" and just get the account to pop up when I open the program. Also, after installing 2003, 2002 somehow disappeared from my programs. Wish I could get it back, but it's too much work to reinput all my data.

User Rating: 5/10

No previous version has given me the data corruption problems this one has!

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Review: I've been a loyal use of Quicken for over 10 years and never had a real problem with data corruption until now. I've had to revert to backups twice in the last two weeks and now have to back up my work after every single session or risk losing a bunch of work. It's extremely irritating. On the positive side, I prefer the new interface to the last two. But who cares about the interface if it keeps turning your data into garbage.

User Rating: 6/10

No support and full of bugs

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Review: Known bug of trying to record removal of shares and being unable to do so makes investment part of program unusable. No response to report of bugs.

User Rating: 3/10

Horrible Product

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Review: Avoid at all costs! I've lost the ability to access accounts online. The software now places ads all over its inteface that you can't get rid of. And the interface is more difficult to use than Q2002.

User Rating: 3/10

DO NOT UPGRADE!!! FULL OF BUGS!

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Review: I used all Quicken versions on daily basis since 1996. Quicken was never a stable product but 2003 tops them all! Aside that 2003 is mostly cosmetic release combine with advertisement - it is full of bugs. I was a part of 'beta' testing team and let me tell you: 'NONE OF ERRORS I REPORTED WERE FIXED'. Now I have several corruption problems with my Quicken 2003 file. Useless technical support advised me to pay $200 for Quicken data recovery service! And they do not guarantee that corruptions will not reoccur. This is how Intuit treats loyal customers. 2003 version is not backward compatible with 2002, so it looks like my only option is to convert to MS Money. At least MS has a better customer support.

User Rating: 2/10

They nuked the useful graphs

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Review: You can no longer see the Net Savings as part of the income & expense graph, and you can no longer double click on an expense and see a month by month breakdown of how you incurred that expense... all in all, those were some of the best features of Quicken of the past...

User Rating: 1/10

Littered with ads. No improvement over previous version

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Review: I have been using Quicken since the DOS days and have been upgrading every other year. I upgraded from 2001 and there are not worthwhile features to speak of. Worse yet, the performance on my Win 98 machine with 26MB RAM sucks. And to add insult to injury, the program is full of advertisements in every corner and screen that I can not turn off. With so many advertiements they should give the product out for free. It is absolutely irritating. For the first time in eight years I am seriously thinking of swithcing to MS Money.

User Rating: 3/10

I don't pay to view ads

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Review: I've used Quicken since the DOS days. I've been upgrading annually to get downloads of the latest stock prices. I cursed Intuit when they moved to the browser-like interface, but I stuck with the product. With Quicken 2003, I've had it. I'd read others reviews about the ads and was leary. I presumed there was an easy way to get rid of the ads. There isn't. I returned the product to Intuit for a refund (except for the cost of shipping grrrr). Don't waste your time or money. Stick with the version of Quicken you already have.

User Rating: 2/10

If you have 2002 DON?T upgrade to 2003!!!

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Review: I?m not accustomed to giving bad reviews but 2003 does NOTHING better than 2002 and many things worse? including DATA CORRUPTION!!! Their current definition of ?web connect? is ?Quicken Bill Pay?? be careful of buttons that are TOO easy to push? Quicken was on a great track until about a year ago when they became more interested in being a credit card company than a software company. Direct connect WAS great, the short lived promise of bill pay where THEY open the envelopes WAS great, ? etc etc? (I now use Paytrust and couldn?t be happier?except for having to fumble with .qif files? :( ) Intuit unfortunately feels they can make more money by coercing us into using THEIR credit card than they?ll loose by engendering user mistrust. It?s a bad gamble, IMO :( Their current management needs to go back to ENRON and leave financial software development to someone with at least a passing an interest in financial software development. Now I have to figure out how to make 2002 work again? :( :( :( !!!!!

User Rating: 3/10

You Paid to See Advertisements

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Review: There are advertisements everywhere for online banking, automatic bill payment, brokerage, and credit cards from Quicken and its partners. You can't turn these off and they are on all of the significant summary screens. There aren't that many more features above Quicken 2001. One feature, the ability to change color schemes has been deleted. In many ways, 2002 Premiere was a step backwards to less functionality and you have to pay money to view their annoying advertisements which you cannot disable. I will send the product back and request a refund.

User Rating: 6/10

It used to be a good program

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Review: Must be a smart company. They make me pay to view their advertisements. I have seen freeware with less ads. This is the last Quicken I will buy and I have been buying it for 12 years

User Rating: 1/10

No checkfree, no 2003 for me

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Review: I have been using checkfree from the beginning and have been more than satisfied with their service. Intuit used to get me to shell out $40 for an upgrade every year. Not this year! If they don't go back to supporting checkfree, I will probably move over to MS Money in the future.

User Rating: 5/10

loaded with bugs

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Review: Updated from 2002 fine, however found several problems after using for 2 weeks. Had to scrub my file twice with an on-line call. This did not fix the problem. Turned out that Quicken 2003 does not support long or file names with space or odd characters to Zip drives. Many more minor bugs continued to follow this one, to the point I wish I could go back to the 2002 verison

User Rating: 5/10

Full of bugs

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Review: I have had multiple crashes that require a reboot of my system to recover (Windows 98 SE). Today it lost the entire contents of a register that had transactions back to 1993!

User Rating: 2/10

Cluttered Start up screen

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Review: Customer Service is non-existent. Cluttered viewing screen capared to Quicken 99. Worst of all, yearly %Returns calculated don't equal my Quicken 99 Program.

User Rating: 5/10

DREADFUL support

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Review: Intuit used to be the epitome of good customer support, but now they've thrown it out the window. After upgrading from Quicken 2001 to 2003, my wife can no longer access Quicken in her Windows XP account, even though we're both set up as administrators. There is nothing about this problem on their web site; in fact, when I tried to report this as a bug, their site doesn't even acknowledge a 2003 version! There is NO email support (or it's very cleverly hidden), and why should I pay 2 bucks a minute to figure out why their prodcut doesn't install correctly? My advice? BUY A DIFFERENT PRODCUT THAT WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT.

User Rating: 10/10

Premiere worth the Premium

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Review: One of the reasons why I bought a computer was to track my finances, and nobody does it better than Intuit's Quicken. Premiere is quite good, and I am only getting started with the new features. The new version is not perfect, but darn near close. It is well worth the upgrade, and I have not encountered any of the troubles detailed in the review section by other users. As with any upgrade, cautious use of backup is highly recommended, but if you have a recent enought system, upgrading [from 2001, at least] should be painless

User Rating: 4/10

Unstable worthless software

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Review: I have been a Quicken user for many years, the 2003 version will make me switch to other software. The database is unstable, loosing and duplicating transactions, basic functions like year end closeout force manual entry and recovery of data. Support from Intuit is not helpful or non-existent. With the integrity of my records at stake, I am forced to change software.

User Rating: 6/10

falling from grace

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Review: I've used Quicken Home & Business since it came out. I used regular Quicken before that. I've been a SOHO computer consultant for 7 years and help many people with Quicken and QuickBooks, and a few with MYOB and MS Money. I hate Quicken 2003. I've upgraded every year and usually hem and haw "cuz things ain't like they used to be" -- this is a normal reaction for me after I'm used to something and it changes, but I almost always adjust and prefer the new version. NOT SO with Quicken 2003. Users can't really communicate effectively with their development team and tech support anymore, and this may be why Intuit has lost touch with users. I think Intuit used to require their programmers spend a couple weeks a year sitting next to and observing actual users in the users' environments. I doubt Intuit does this anymore. Face it: Intuit treats their software like a subscription service and has to justify a new version every year, and so they "tweak" it to show it's different even when not necessary. Well, they've really f@#$ed up version 2003 with its disjointed windows and interface. I totally agree with mherbst55's opinion. I won't recommend my clients upgrade from any Quicken pre-2003 version. Too bad MS Money doesn't cut the mustard. We need a another basic accounting software not loaded with useless sh#$ presented as a hodepodge of windows. Their formerly great tech support now sucks, though I rarely need it after I learned the importance of validating and super-validing files regularly. Intuit's tech support isn't free anymore not because so many people use Quicken but because so many people can't figure out how to use it. Get the programmers out in the field and fire the MBA-product managers who view customers as livestock in a Texas pig farm to be herded, penned and slaughtered.

User Rating: 6/10

bloated software

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Review: what ever happened to a simple to use, fast, easy interfact to keeping your accounts. This has too much and too many options. A basic register is no longer an option.

User Rating: 9/10

Good product even better.

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Review: I've used Quicken since 1994, upgrading each year. I give it all the credit for getting my finances in order, paying off debts, and accumulating decent savings and investments. Quicken 2003 Premier has a much cleaner, XP/Aqua-like interface than 2002, which I thought was clunky. Nice fonts and color choices.

User Rating: 5/10

A step backwards from Quicken 2002 Deluxe

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Review: I am currently a Quicken 2002 Deluxe user. I purchased the 2003 Premier version this weekend expecting to see a much improved product from Intuit. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. To save space, I would just say I could not agree more with the thumbs down review given by "mherbst55". Read this review and save your money. The weaknesses mentioned in his/her review definitely take this version a step backwards. However, I will not be moving over to Money. I downloaded the free 60 day version and was not impressed. Way too cluttered and confusing, couldn't customize a home page that I liked and full of unnecessary advertisements. I will play around with Quicken 2003 for a few more days to see if I'm missing something but I anticipate reinstalling Quicken 2002 and returning Premier 2003 for a full refund. Hopefully Microsoft or Intuit will make a 2004 product that is worth upgrading to.

User Rating: 9/10

I Switched from Money 2003

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Review: Quicken has finally cleaned up its interface. This is the program to use if you are a serious investor. My only complaint is wanting $2 a minute for technical support. Intuit could at least give 30-60 days for free.

User Rating: 7/10

Good-but I have to lean more towards Money

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Review: I have used both Quicken 2003 and Money 2003. Quicken has definitely made great strides at improving its interface, but I have to side with Microsoft?s Money. Quicken feels more like a conglomeration of different programs ? the calendar, budget, planner, etc. all pop up in separate windows ? a step backwards from the 2002 version. Money, on the other hand, feels more like one program. Some people complain that there are a bunch of advertisements in Money 2003, but they fail to point out that you can turn them off in the options menu. Quicken and Money have more in common then they have differences, but because of Money?s smoother interface and free tech support, I would recommend Microsoft?s product for most people. Seriously Intuit, I realize you don?t have the deep pockets of Microsoft, but you could at least offer 30 days of free technical support?

User Rating: 10/10

Q2003-Best Yet

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Review: Been using Q since MYM gave up business and this is there best product. Upgraded to Q Prenier for Home & Business. Was disappointed with loss of check-free, but I have found bill pay to be better and it is operated by check-free. Wish Intuit had a Q product that supported my Ipaq PDA. My son just purchased Money 2003 for his new laptop and I helped with set up. It is terible and much more difficult to use than Quicken.

User Rating: 2/10

Used to be great, now awful

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Review: This is the most painful "upgrade" I'vew ever experienced. Now it's all about selling financial services and not about helping manage your finances. If you don't need this program, stay away until they go back to a management program rather than a sales program!

User Rating: 5/10

Update only if you need a specific feature

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Review: I've been using versions of Quicken since Quicken 3. My last version was Quicken 2000. I upgraded because this version distinguishes between bank and Intuit Online account numbers for use in online updates (Quicken 2000 does not do this). I am not impressed with the new version - in fact I am incensed by the unabashed advertising that appears everywhere - you do not have the option to remove it from the displays. As with my previous version, there are some occasional video display gaffs as well. I do not think this program is worth the upgrade unless, like me, you need a specific feature that does not appear in your current version.

User Rating: 5/10

Popup Windows Stink!

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Review: Seperate pop-up windows for calender, budget, etc are annoying. Reminds me of what's wrong with the Internet. The integrated interface in version 2002 isn't as jarring. Money 2003 is cleaner as well.

User Rating: 1/10

Quicken leaves users out in the cold

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Review: I am writing to alert you to the fact that Intuit Canada is cutting off it's online banking services for Quicken 2000 on Sept 30, 2002 providing users with just one month's notice of the cut off. Of course, Quicken wants us to upgrade at an additional cost. My complaint is that when I purchased the program (just two years ago) I was not informed of any expiry date. The problem is NOT related to the bank not wishing to support the application, but to do with a file in the application that is deliberately set to expire on that date just like a "time bomb". For more info see http://www.quicken.ca/sunset/qk2000_landing.php I believe that Intuit is in breach of the contract that I had with them, i.e. that the functionality that was purchased would continue to be available. To say I am surprised by Quicken's behaviour is an understatement, my trust level of this company has gone through the floor and I will NOT be upgrading to any more of their products (I upgraded initially to this product in order to get online banking in the first place). My questions are: if this company is so untrustworthy, what else are they planning to do in the future and what are they doing with the possibly sensitive data they already have? Perhaps you should be aware of the kinds of practices that Intuit uses when purchasing your product? And don't forget to ask when this product expires....

User Rating: 4/10

The adds and bad support

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Review: This is not a good upgrade. It might be greart next year, They care more about their profits than the customers.

User Rating: 3/10

Great new interface

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Review: I have been a Quicken user since the '99 versions and this is clearly the best yet. An intuitive interface makes for ease of use. I have compared to Money 2003 versions and as usual, Money still remains more difficult to use.

User Rating: 4/10

Formerly great product slipping, terrible support

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Review: A faithful user and lover of Quicken for years, this upgrade is very poor. Worst feature is force to use Quicken Bill Pay over Check Free, now discontinued and then NO SUPPORT when it doesn't work! Try emailing the INCORRECT email address for this option. Then you can't get through to telephone support for hours and when you do give you the wrong information repeatedly! THERE'S NOT EVEN A CHOICE FOR QUICKEN 2003 ON THE VOICE MAIL SELECTION! Come on Quicken, if you want to stay in the ball game, please return to your dominant position in personal financial management software! OUCH...

User Rating: 5/10

Quicken is heading in the wrong direction

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Review: I read the opinions here on CNET for the new Quicken 2003 software. With reservation I tried it. My suspicions were correct; I didn't like what I saw. I've used Quicken since the early 90's. In my opinion Quicken 2001 was the most polished and integrated software Intuit offered, but each iteration afterward has been going in the other direction. The only positive point I can give Quicken 2003 is for the improved graphics. Concerning negatives, Quicken has many. (1) I don't like the Account Bar that replaced the QuickTabs. It can't be turned off, and you can configure the Home Page to display the same information. So it's redundant. (2) It now opens up separate windows to display things like reports, budgeting tool, categories, etc. You begin to think that you're using a raft of different software packages. It provides a feeling of fracturedness instead of integration. (3) After looking at many of the features, I find most are simply the same old tools configured to work in a different way, mostly more complex. It isn't working. (4) Home Inventory still isn't updated (aarrgghh). Quicken used to be a great package. It seems Intuit has no vision for Quicken at present. I'm thinking about going to Money 2003 because it provides many of the features I've wanted in a highly integrated and attractive package(even though I don't like the budgeting feature - too complicated). I really hope Intuit can turn this around because I like Quicken a lot.

User Rating: 1/10

An absolutely rotten product.

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Review: Just try to set this thing up with your bank! Get ready for error messages -- like "OL-89-B" -- that they say you should go to their Web site for more info on. Suprise! The error message isn't available anywhere on their Web site, including its search engine! And guess what --you can't call these people during evenings or weekends, so you'll have to take the day off to sit at your computer at home and talk to their technicians (and hope they don't charge you $1.95 / minute, which is their option!)! And you can't e-mail them about the problem for help either -- you're up the proverbial creek, no paddle! This is a truly pathetic product and, based on their utter lack of customer service, a worthless company. I am now going to have to bite the bullet and buy Money just to balance my bank accounts on line (or maybe I'll just go back to paper and pen). Consider my $60 waste of money on Quicken a lesson to stay away from Intuit for life!

User Rating: 5/10

They Dropped CheckFree

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Review: I sent them an e-mail 2 weeks ago to make sure 2003 supported Checkfree. I got a reply that it did. I just bought the software last night (opened it), backed-up my system And Quicken & took a nap. I got up, got my snail mail & in the mail, Quicken sent me a letter saying 2003 versions would not support CheckFree!

User Rating: 3/10

HATE IT!

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Review: I have used Quicken faithfully since 1996, and the last update I had was 2000, so I bought 2003, and I HATE IT!! It is so jumbled, hard to use and my favorite feature (calender) is awful now! I wish I could go back to 2000, and I wish I could get my money back!

User Rating: 6/10

NEED BETTER TECH SUPPORT

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Review: I have been using quicken for 12 years--not to give people at least 5 free tech help with out charging them 1.95 is crazy--also if you want to change the opening page like 2002 had ,they should let you change it---2002 is a better version

User Rating: 9/10

Excellent (and well-needed) face lift!

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Review: I upgraded to Q2003 Deluxe for the new user interface, and I?m not disappointed at all. I really like the new account bar, and the easily-customizable default page. I am pleased that you can now eliminate the pesky ?There should be no new data to download? message when using Online banking. Regretfully, Intuit has not touched the Home Inventory program; it?s still in desperate need of revamping.

User Rating: 7/10

Security means nothing?

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Review: In a day and age when security is so important, it seems strange to find a program that contains so much important information that will only work on a Windows XP admin account. Even MS says not use your admin account for day to day work and we've seen how reliable their security is.

User Rating: 8/10

Why switch to Microsoft???

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Review: I switched from it, last year and now upgraded to Quicken 2003 Premier... I may rate it higher later, but this is my initial impression... I like it. MS - kiss off.

User Rating: 9/10

Why do you need 24-hour support when it simply works?

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Review: The interface is a thousand times more refined than its predecessors...and considering that it's software based upon the idea that intuition is the only tool you need, the down-rating for technical support hours seems puzzling, if not altogether amusing.

User Rating: 10/10

you do not need service - it works

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Review: wake up C/net get out of Msoft's pocket. Its good it works its clear so the need for support is minimized.

User Rating: 7/10

Great product getting better

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Review: Love how I can use the product for simple banking or move upwards to sophisticated financial planning. It's a great value.

User Rating: 5/10

Buggy & Not Worth Upgrade

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Review: I've been a Quicken user since the first version. Not worth the upgrade if you're on 2001 or 2002. Specifically, don't bother with the PREMIER version. $70 dollars for this edition is a rip off even if you're an experienced investor. Tax Planner has many calculation errors; reported as bugs. Don't rely on the numbers that are generated here. Some massive miscalculations. New interface is very welcome, but again, not worth the price of the upgrade. Home inventory still not upgraded. Planner not changed. May make the jump and convert over to Money 2003.

User Rating: 7/10

Stick with Microsoft Money 2003!

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Review: Even with a new makeover, Microsoft Money 2003 is the #1 choice! Better interface, lots of support options, and it is not as hard to use as Quicken! Microsoft has finally given Quicken a fun for their money and Money 2003 is the cash winner! I can truly say that there is not anything about Microsoft Money 2003 that I do not like. Quicken needs to work harder... Plus, Money 2003 will let you try it before you buy it! Quicken will not do that because they know they would sale their software if they did. GO WITH MICROSOFT MONEY 2003!

User Rating: 2/10

rips you off on poor support

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Review: provides poor support, tries to sell other services which it is more interested in

User Rating: 3/10

Would not buy it!

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Review: Need to upgrade from 2001 because of xp. Read all reviews of 2002 and 2003. Support is ridiculous.

User Rating: 8/10

Finally a version worthwhile of an Upgrade

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Review: Been using Quicken since the DOS days and aside from the jump from DOS to Windows, this is the most significant upgrade over the years. One pet peeve - they still have not updated home inventory

User Rating: 5/10

pay $80 for ads!

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Review: Opt for the $80 for the Premier edition and get inundated with ads. Quicken will clutter your screen with attempts to get you to sign up for their brokerage service, their credit card, their mortgage company partners, and the program will repeatedly try to get you to send your personal financial information to their website (supposedly for more features), where your can be inundated with more special offers. If you register this product, consider very carefully whether to give them your email address.

User Rating: 10/10

I love Quicken 2003

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Review: Make sure you go for the Premier edition, it is well worth the extra ten dollars!

Tips on Intuit Quicken 2003 Deluxe

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Intuit Quicken 2003 Deluxe specifications

  • General
  • Subcategory Home / life - personal finance / tax preparation
  • License pricing Standard
  • Software
  • License Type Complete package
  • License Qty 1 user
  • License Pricing Standard
  • Platform Windows
  • Distribution Media CD-ROM
  • Package Type Retail
  • System Requirements
  • OS Required Microsoft Windows 95 , Microsoft Windows 98 , Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition , Microsoft Windows XP , Microsoft Windows 2000
  • Min Processor Type Intel Pentium - 133.0 MHz
  • Min RAM Size 32.0 MB
  • Min Hard Drive Space 111.0 MB
  • Peripheral / Interface Devices Modem , SVGA monitor , Sound card , 2x CD-ROM
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