Book Review of:
Quicken
for Windows 99 

I am happy to report that the book is set up just for the likes of me. It gives a brief introduction, then changes to two columns per page. The column nearest the binding displays what you should be seeing — and doing — in conjunction with the instructions written in the adjacent column. The author, Tom Negrino, admits that he did not try to cover all the possibilities in Quicken; he sets the tone as being for beginners and intermediate users, not advanced users. He states that he omitted such things as budgets and forecasts since most people do not use them anyhow. 

The book is designed as a “how to” book, not one that is intended to be read from cover to cover. It has an eight-page table of contents so that you can determine what you want to do and where to go to learn how to do it. In addition there is a ten-page index so you should be able to locate the material you want with no delay.

Part 1 covers installation and use of registers for bank accounts, etc. Part 2 goes on to cover investments. Part 3 goes over reports, graphs, financial planners, the family lawyer and using Quicken.com on the internet. Part 4 cover the setting up and operation of a small business. Altogether it is a well-written book with a lot of interesting and valuable information.

I have not read it all but I have perused sections that interested me, especially those that told me how to do some of the things I want to do and have not known how. While I would suggest that you should buy the later edition (I trust that there is one), this one will permit you to do the basic operations – they do not differ much from one version of Quicken to the next.

As for buying it locally, I do not know of a store in Del Rio, TX where it would be carried. The book price on the cover is $16.99 and before Quicken 2000, it was well worth it. 

The book was published by 

Peach Press
1249 Eighth St
Berkeley, CA 94710. 
Phone 800 283 9444 
Fax 510 524 2221.