Quick Books for Windows, version 4.0 
by Danny White

Quick Books for Windows, version 4.0 is available at most of the usual software outlets including Egghead Software and Computer City, where both outlets offer discounts for Alamo PC members. The price was $99.93 at Eggheads before the Alamo PC member discount or you can contact Intuit at Intuit, 2650 E. Elvira, Suite 100, Tucson, Arizona 85706, 1-800-544-1356 ext. 701557.

As a current user of Quick Books, I went straight to the section for utilizing and converting data from previous editions. The installation took approximately 45 minutes. Since the primary features I use Quick Books for is the invoicing function, sales tracking and sales tax data, someone who uses the full package may have a significantly longer install. I installed Quick Books version 4.0 on a 486-50 mhz, with 4 MB ram. 8 MB of ram is recommended and 20 MB of hard disk space is required. A well designed installation guide and user's handbook is supplied. There are detailed instructions to help users of previous versions of either Quick Books or Quicken convert data to the version 4.0 format.

One thing I disliked about the installation is the fact that upon installation you must back up your data during the install and there is no escape or bypass mechanism. One would think that if you were going to update an accounting program, surely you would already have backed up your files to insure no data loss. Since I had already done so, I had to scrounge for disks to backup on, which was slightly disconcerting not to mention an unneeded distraction. So, be sure that if you are a previous user of another version of Quick Books to have a blank formatted disk or two available for data backup or you will have to re-boot.

• Quick Books, version 4.0 has many new features over previous
• versions. New features include
• Quantities for Groups,
• Billing Statements,
• Pending Sales,
• Custom Statements, Easier Re-imbursable
• Expensing,
• Order and Width Control for customized columns on sales forms,
• Amount column added to customer Quick Report,
• Go To Button,
• Split Transactions,
• Customer Registers,
• Editable A/R Register,
• Amount column added to Vendor Quick Report,
• Check Detail Report,
• Deposit Detail Report,
• Deposit payments directly to account,
• Industry-specific documentation,
• Calculate and Write paychecks,
• Calculate and Pay payroll taxes and liabilities,
• W-2 and W-3 Forms,
• Sick and Vacation time tracking,
• Easier Payment of Liabilities,
• Easier setup for year-to-date amounts,
• Improved Payroll items,
• 940 and 941 Forms,
• Custom fields, custom iconbar,
• Better notes access for customers,
• To Do notes,
• Improved Find command,
• QuickMath,
• More mailing label formats,
• Mailing labels with Ship To addresses,
• Printing mailing labels based on invoice selection,
• Mail Merge,
• Printed Report fits one page wide,
• Tax Links and Income Tax Reports,
• and 1099 forms.

Customer Support? Technical support for registered users of Quick Books is available by Fax on demand at 800-858-6090 or at 520-806- 2517 for Windows users and 520-806-2519 for Mac users. Departments at Corporate headquarters can be reached at 415-322-0573.

 I use Quick Books every day in my business, principally for the invoicing and to track my sales tax liability. How well did I like the product? I think it's great. On the reports I ran on a fictitious customer, it ran approximately twice as fast than the older version I have been using, Quick Books, version 2.0. When I printed an invoice on my imaginary customer, I was pleased to find that the tax is automatically entered as opposed to the 2.0 version where if you failed to click the tax box on the invoice, you failed to charge sales tax. I'm especially excited about some of the new features such as the capability to include contact management data, custom invoice fields, as well as notes to a customers account. Not to mention the mail merge feature. I also like the custom buttonbar so that I can have the features I need for my business easily at hand.

So, if your interested in improving your business management capabilities or are starting a new small or home business, Quick Books may be just the tool you need to succeed. Satisfaction Guaranteed or receive a full refund. Right there on the back of the box it says "Try Quick Books for 90 days. If you don't absolutely love it, return it with your dated receipt for a full refund." What do you have to lose? Like they say on the box, " the fastest, easiest way to manage your business. Guaranteed."