Alternative to Quicken for budget planning only

Wikikenkey

macman wrote: »

It's available as as CD-ROM or download from the Quicken site, haven't checked Amazon prices. But with UK shipping probably cheaper to get the download.

macman Thank you

Deneb

Wikikenkey, is ityou who posted a similar question on the Quicken Community forum today?

If so, I've answered there, but to expand:

Intuit won't let you purchase a download from them unless you have a US postal address and a US verified card as means of payment. They will however sell you physical media if you contact them. I suspect they wish to ensure that you are aware of the limitations of using the software outside of the US, i.e. no institutional downloads to accounts etc.

Intuit are however expensive. You can usually get the software cheaper from online resellers. I bought it from Amazon US. You will need to create an account on Amazon US to do so, and you will need a US postal address. Amazon, unlike Intuit though, will accept a UK credit or debit card for payment and you can buy an instant download of the software.

As for how to "get" a US address - there are online sites which will facilitate that for foreign customers for a fee.

Alternatively, you can use a bit of imagination and your wits. When Amazon verify your purchase, all they seem to check is that you have given a valid US Zip Code and it matches the City and State where you have told them you live. A couple of minutes with a browser should resolve that ;-)

I should also add before you commit yourself, as it may not be clear, but if you are hoping to import existing Quicken UK data into the US version it is not an easy task and you need to be very computer literate. I did it, and I feel that it was worth it, but it involves exporting the UK Quicken data file into MS Money, exporting it again into an older US version of Quicken, and importing it into the current version. There will probably be a lot of tidying up to do afterwards.

OTOH, if you intend to start from scratch with a new data file, no problem. You could also export all your current data to PDF files using the Quicken PDF printer and attach them to your new file as an alternative, as the current US version supports file attachments to accounts and transactions. Or, if you have Win 8.1 Pro, you can keep your old version of Quicken and accounts running in a virtual machine under HyperV.

Wikikenkey

Deneb Thank you very much for that info. All understood. Luckily I only use quicken for its budget planner so don't really have much to transfer over. I will try that out. Thanks again.

garynuman

I use Homebank (http://homebank.free.fr/)


It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the commercial ones but you can budget with it and import statements from most formats.


Best of all it's free!


Gaz

silversue_2

Exo wrote: »

I have Quicken 2000 running on Windows 7 64 bit.
If you do install on W8, you will need to make some minor adjustments such as compatibility mode and composition.

Lastly, you can no longer register on the Intuit web site for these older versions.
As a result, Quicken will only run for a limited number of times until registration has been completed. A work around is to replace the Quicken .ini file with your existing Quicken .ini file in use by XP, which will contain the original registration details.

Hi Exo

I too have Quicken 2000 deLuxe. I've not been able to run it on Windows 7 ... so how did you do it please?

I've been running it on Virtual XP on my windows 7 computer but want to upgrade to windows 10, so I need to overcome the Quicken problem.

Hope you don't mind me asking. Thanks

Geoff_W

My version of Quicken is the Year 2000 Solution Disk (Based on Quicken 98 Deluxe). It runs fine on W7 64bit and can be used on W10 64bit with some workarounds. Here are some tips that may be helpful...

Windows 7 64bit
Copy the program CD to C:/ and then navigate to the WIN95 folder. Find SETUP.EXE, right click it and select Properties > Compatibility. Then tick the box 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' and select 'Windows XP (Service Pack 3)' from the drop-down box. Then tick the following four boxes; 'Disable visual themes', Disable desktop composition', 'Disable display scaling on high DPI settings' and 'Run this program as an administrator'.

Then run the SETUP.EXE file. Be careful to install it into a QUICKENW folder under Program Files (x86) or else it will install everything under C:/ Once installed, you will need to change the compatibility (as above) for the file QW.EXE. Now copy over your existing work files QDATA.QDF, QDATA.QEL and QDATA.QSD. If you want to use the Quicken Help files you will need to install Windows6.1-KB917607-x64.msu.

When you run the program for the first time you will need to manually enter your Customer Registration Number. Ignore the initial Setup Wizard and File Open QDATA.QDF.

Windows 10 64bit
Mainly as above for W7, but the Compatibility options are a little different. It doesn't seem to matter whether you select compatibility for Windows XP or Windows 7. The Help files cannot be made to run under W10 as there is no equivalent to the KB917607 msu and that file will not execute under W10. And finally, when you open Quicken, the register screen is blank apart from the menu and icon bars. Just select the Accounts icon and choose one of your accounts and the screen will populate. It's fine after that.

Hope this helps

Geoff

silversue_2

Hey Geoff W, Many, MANY thanks for taking the trouble to post your reply. I am truly grateful!!

silversue_2

Since running Quicken 2000 in Windows 7 (thanks to advice from Geoff_W) each time I start Quicken, it asks if I want to allow the program to make changes to my computer. Also, it loses my font settings so have to change font each time. Does anyone know of a workaround for these please?

Geoff_W

The 'Allow this program to make changes to my computer' is only the Windows UAC (User Account Control) checking that you really want to run this program. It was introduced in Windows Vista and is a Pain In The A**e. Just click on Yes. I'm surprised you've never seen this before; it's been around for ages.

Can't help you with the font settings; I've never changed mine from the defaults. I suspect it's due to an incompatibility with W7. You could try playing with the compatibility properties of QW.EXE to see if that helps, but otherwise learn to live with the default font.

silversue_2

thanks again Geoff. The problems seem be fixed now. It's just great to be running it on W7. Many thanks again