Software Review of:
Quicken 
Deluxe 2000 

There are three versions of Quicken which are released in four packages. Quicken Basic is the cheapest and allows one to organize their finances by maintaining check, credit card, and investment registers. One can balance their checkbook and pay bills easily. One can also bank and pay bills online with the Basic version. The Basic version also allows categorization for tax and budget purposes as well as some reporting and graphing capability. The Deluxe version is sold by itself and also as part of Quicken 2000 Suite which also contains Turbo Tax Deluxe for tax year 1999 (both federal and state) and Quicken Family Lawyer. Each of these programs can be purchased separately as well as part of the suite. 

The Deluxe version has all of the basic features plus one can download sale prices of nearby homes and car values. One can download and send online transactions in one click. New for this year are much improved overview’s of each of the seven major areas as well as an overview of each account. The major power of the Deluxe version over the Basic lies in its investment, tax, and planning functionality. The Home and Business version has all of the Deluxe features plus invoicing, business tax tracking, tracking of accounts receivables and payables, and a business users guide. If you are running a small home business that requires invoicing then the Home and Business version is better suited than the Deluxe. If you are not having to produce invoices, you can use the Deluxe version to track your small home business income and expenses. 

If you are going to be operating a larger business, then you probably want to look at Quick Books which is Intuit’s business accounting package. Quicken is not a real accounting package. For example it does not use debits and credits and it does not produce an audit trail. You can go in and change anything at any time. Thus it is not appropriate for employee entry of data. It is designed for the individual to take care of his/her own finances and not for a bookkeeper or accountant. All of the versions will run on Windows 95, 98, or NT 4. 

Installing Quicken is just like installing any other Windows 9X application. Although you should do a few extra steps if your upgrading from a prior version of Quicken instead of a first time installation. If you already use a prior version of Quicken it is wise (but not necessary) to do the following. Open your present version of Quicken and make a Backup of your data file (use the menu File/ Backup.) Next validate your data file by going to the menu and clicking on File/File Operations/Validate. This checks the data file and corrects any problems that may exist. Then do a "Super Validate" by using the menu commands File/File Operations/ and then hold down the control/shift keys while clicking on Validate. This is a more in depth check of the data files. Depending on how much data you have, the super validate may take a little time. Make another backup when the validation is completed. Now your ready to install Quicken 2000. Whether you are installing Quicken for the first time or you are upgrading from an older version the first thing you need to do is end all running programs. To do this close everything that’s open. Then close all the programs that are running in background, particularly your anti-virus program. You can close the background programs in the Windows Task Manager (using the keyboard, push down Alt/Ctrl/Del at the same time to bring up the Task Manager.) Simply highlight each entry in the Task Manager EXCEPT EXPLORER AND SYSTRAY and then click on end task. Do this repeatedly until the only programs listed in the Task Manager are Explorer and Systray. Then after all the background programs are shut down insert the Quicken CD and run the installation program. Simply answer all the Questions. If you are upgrading from a prior Windows version, it is OK to install it in the same directory as you old Quicken program. The installation program will ask you if you want it to uninstall the old version — answer yes. A copy of your old data files will be made so that you will still have your old data in it’s original format should you need to go back and reinstall the old version. Quicken 2000 will convert your old data files to 2000 format when you open them. 

If you are not upgrading from a prior version of Quicken, when you first start up Quicken 2000, it will ask you some questions about yourself and your family. Take time to answer these correctly because based on these answers it will set up some default categories for your income and expenses. Then it will ask you to set up a checking account. To do this you will simply answer questions of a Wizard (Fig 1 shows the opening page of the new checking account Wizard.) Quicken 2000 is full of Wizards which make it a very easy program to use. If you have all you bank statements, credit card statements, loan papers, and investment statements you can go ahead and set up all of your accounts. You can choose from a number of types of accounts — Quicken uses a different Wizard for each type. One of the new features for 2000 is an improved set of Overviews. The program by default will open on the My Finances Overview which gives you a complete view of your finances. This page can be customized to include the information important to you. Another new feature that makes navigation easier are the tabs on the right of the Window Each of the seven major areas of Quicken 2000 is represented by a tab. Clicking on any of these major tabs takes you to an overview page for that area. From that overview page you can click on any of the accounts or features relating to the area and immediately view and work in them. 

The Overview page for Investments provides a good example of some of the power of Quicken 2000. For example you can go to any of your investment accounts by clicking on it. You would click on the account Retirement-USAA. You can also estimate capital gains, download transactions, research stocks or mutual funds, get online quotes, chart multiple securities, determine a recommended asset allocation, track you investments including employee stock options, compare actual asset allocation to target allocation, and many other functions. Each of the other major areas have overview pages that allow you to simply click on the account or task. In the tax area you can import tax data from Turbo Tax, review tax related expenses, prepare a tax summary for tax return preparation, export data to Turbo Tax, estimate tax liability, know if your withholding is over or under, find and learn how to maximize deductions, and be reminded of important tax dates. 

The Household Center allows you to track the value of your home and car as well as any other assets and loans, Additionally you can organize your emergency records so if something happens to you your family has the information they need. You can also maintain a home inventory for insurance purposes. You can download the value of your car and recent home sales in your neighborhood. The planning area permits you to set out information about you and the assumptions you want to make and then you can workout a retirement plan, college plan, home purchase, debt reduction, and other goals. It also allows you to develop what if scenarios to change your assumptions. You can also set up a budget and track whether your staying within it or not. The Report section allows you to view and print almost any kind of financial report or graph you can imagine. There are a number of standard reports, i.e. net worth, investment performance, tax summary, and profit and loss comparisons. Additionally you can develop almost any customizable report and then memorize it. All of this is done with the mouse. 

In order to take advantage of all the features that Quicken Deluxe 2000 offers you will need an Internet connection. You can use any browser, but you will lose some features if you don’t have Internet Explorer Version 4 or above (IE 5 comes with Quicken 2000.) As a minimum you will need 16 MB of RAM, Pentium 66, 61.5 MB hard drive space (plus another 33MB for IE5), 14,400 or higher baud modem, Win 95, 98 or NT 4, 256 color VGA, sound board and speakers, and a 2 speed CD-ROM drive. 

If your looking for an easy to use personal financial application that will allow you to pay bills online, bank online, track investments with all sorts of help in selecting investments, know what your tax situation is at all times, maintain your records, and your home inventory, and many other features all at a reasonable price then Quicken Deluxe 2000 will fit your needs.