Quicken 2003 Premier Home & Business

This NEW version of Quicken Home & Business is a great upgrade and builds upon a solid history. Quicken has long been the # 1 rated and # 1 best-selling finance software for a good reason. It's the fastest, easiest way to do finances.

I love it! This new version features a more intuitive organization, lets you automatically schedule your financial transactions to be downloaded (so you don't have to waste time when you start quicken), has better investing and tax modules, and is just generally EVEN EASIER and FASTER to use.

I run a small consulting business and Quicken Home & Business is perfect... I don't need all the full power of QuickBooks.

For the user who asked about multi-user, sounds as though you should get QuickBooks, which is Intuit's real easy-to-use BUSINESS software. Quicken is really only meant for the personal finances, i.e., Schedule C stuff is fine and it does invoices and job tracking for the independent consultant or contractor, but it's not meant to run a whole business with multiple employees -- get QuickBooks for that.

In all, this is a great product whether you are new to Quicken or looking to upgrade! I highly recommend it!!


A Disaster if You Use CheckFree Bill Pay!! Don't Buy It!   October 10, 2002
 21 out of 23 found this review helpful

I have used Quicken since the 80's, and CheckFree since 1989. I've upgraded every year. I bought Quicken 2003 Home and Business the day it was available for sale. Big Mistake! It did not support CheckFree Bill Pay. I have maybe 100 payees, built up over the years. The Payee List was gone and CheckFree was not a payment option. Eventually, Intuit said that it posted a patch on it's website, but it didn't work for me! I signed up for Quicken Bill Pay, which is really CheckFree in disquise, because CheckFree said they had heard that if you converted to QBP in the 2002 version, then the Payees would transfer to Q2003. After many calls, waiting for Quicken Bill Pay to send me a password, I finally made the switch, retained my Payees, and then found that the software would not connect to Quicken Bill Pay!! Plus, you have to pay the phone call for Quicken Bill Pay support (an hour on the phone didn't solve it) where it used to be an 800#. The Q2003 interface isn't any great improvement either -- hard to find the things that used to be conveniently located on the side! ...


Useful, but packed full of features   September 9, 2002
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

A lot about this program is great -- the set-up was simple and it took very little time and input for me to get up to snuff. I also appreciate the graphing of important information so I can glance at a chart and see the info I need, rather than study columns of numbers (which you can if that's what you want to do). And downloading info from my bank is *really* useful.

But there's a LOT of features. In fact, there's so many, it's distracting. I maybe use 40% of the program, which makes me think I ought to have purchased a lesser version. Still, I'm happy with it overall.


great software to keep track of finances   September 5, 2002
 16 out of 19 found this review helpful

I'm running Windows XP Professional with all the proper updates on all of my programs, including windows. I have had no problems with Quicken Home & Business so far but rather have been enjoying it's new features. I particularly like the option of having account totals next to the account "tabs" for quick view to plug the info into my spreadsheets. The whole program works better at downloading and is just all around easier to use than the former version. I do, however, have two gripes with Quicken. One is the way they turned their entire payroll program into a service, and without that service, you lose all access to the payroll software. My other gripe with them is the fact that none of their Quicken software is multi-user capable.
To get multi-user capability, one must purchace their expensive and complex Quickbooks Pro or Premier. I can think of how many families could be advantaged by multi-user capable simple Quicken software. This would allow different members of the household to access the same files at the same time from different computers rather then everyone being required to use the same computer for all financial record keeping. Come-on Quicken, get with it! I thought that your products would be multi-user capable by now!