Customer Reviews

QuickBooks Pro 2010 [OLD VERSION] [Download]

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(65)
3 star:		(45)
2 star:		(46)
1 star:		(103)

 

 

I could not agree more with some of the customers' reviews here on Amazon: QB Pro on Windows 7 64-bit cannot be used for your business.

Our company upgraded our computers to Windows 7 64-bit along with Quickbooks 2010 to try it out, but have not transitioned the whole company over to QB 2010 because it just has so many things that don't work.

The most important issue that the fact that printing just doesn't work consistently, neither for pdf's (sending estimates, POs, reconciliation) nor simply printing invoices and receipts. If you try to follow suggestions posted on QB support discussion forums, the fix lasts about a day or so. After rebooting your computer or even QB again, the issue begins again. It's impossible to run a business with Quickbooks 2010 if one cannot print. For non-QB programs, printing works perfectly. So this is clearly a QB problem.

Due to the above, we've resorted to running the business with Quickbooks 2006 with off our older computers that have Windows XP 32-bit. Completely frustrating.

I'm not a person who likes to criticize products. I'm providing this review to simply warn users who have Windows 7 64-bit to really stay away from Quickbooks from 2010 until Intuit resolves the issue. It's really unfair that QB is asking us to pay for customer support when the issue is clearly because the product does not work.

 

As another review mentions, the bulk of the 29 reviews currently posted are by Vines members who received the product for free and beta testers who are coddled by Intuit. There are precious few independent reviews here. Why is that?

I've been a Quickbooks user since 1999. Up until QB 2005, it was a solid, nearly bug free and user friendly product. Unfortunately, Intuit "sunsets" their products and makes it increasingly impossible to use an older version after a few years. So I was forced to upgrade beyond 2005. The short version of a very long sad saga is each version after 2005 has been worse than the one before it with 2009 being the biggest mess yet.

2010 is *marginally* better than 2009 in some ways. Intuit has made the online banking actually function again (they completely broke it in 2009) and cleaned up a few other annoying 2009 issues. But, sadly, the "nag screens" have gotten even worse and there are even more things that are now expensive upgrades. It's completely insulting to be forced into buying new versions of Quickbooks only to have it increasingly function like "trial ware" or some "light" or limited functionality version until you spend even more money with Intuit.

Not only is it annoying, but all the nagging literally makes the product harder and slower to use. When you're just trying to get things done, another offer is in your face to spend more money with Intuit. It's not good for one's blood pressure or productivity.

Quickbooks behaves almost like malware. Their online update system runs all the time even when you don't have Quickbooks open. And not only does it get updates for the software itself, it also seems to feed yet more "special offers" to your PC to spend more money with Intuit. I've used ad-supported freeware that's less invasive and annoying than Quickbooks is. If you have a PC firewall set to alert you when software attempts to connect to the outside world, you'll be shocked how often Quickbooks contacts the Intuit Mothership for who knows what?

Many of the new features in 2010 have a revenue stream for Intuit tied to them--including attaching documents. I agree with the other review that Intuit seems to focus nearly all their considerable resources on ways to extract more money from customers, and further hype their buggy bloated products, rather than making them easier to use. They also seem to have taken to actively managing online reviews such as the ones here.

I encourage others who have issues with Intuit products to post their experiences here and elsewhere. Intuit has a near monopoly with Quickbooks. I think only if the problems are voiced loudly enough (such as with the online banking debacle in 2009) will Intuit have any desire to change their ways and actually focus on what customers want rather than ways to milk ever more money out of them.

2 stars, let me give a more thoughtful review than before.

Quickbooks is a nice program in many ways. Its easy to use, clean, produces quality documents. The reports are useful and very adaptable. The new feature where you can cut and paste from Excel docs directly into customer and vendor lists was a good idea. Having a brief experience with Peachtree, I can say that Quickbooks is probably a superior program overall, the biggest advantage being the fine way you can double-click just about anything in QB and drill down for more info. The ease of use and quality of the very basics are what makes this program decent enough. But I'll also say again that I was probably just as happy with QB 2001, and the years worth of changes to the program and how much it costs to really use it have probably, on the whole, been for the worse.

But my biggest problem with it is that the entire program just seems highly focused on sucking money out of the customer. Things that should be basic features require pricey subscriptions, the most notable being payroll. A 3-star accounting program might let you process payroll, do the tax and deduction calcs for you on paychecks, all simple stuff. A 5-star program might in addition actually automatically download the tax tables onto your computer every year, a nice feature. But Intuit charges the user to use these and other features, where even the Basic payroll subscription - required for processing paychecks yourself - costs close to as much as the program itself over the course of a single year.

This year, before I got the program I was impressed when reading about the feature that allows you to attach documents to a customer or vendor......just a useful idea. But then I get the program and I find that they CHARGE you to store docs. You can't just host it locally and link to it, they want your money to use this simple feature. That's it in a nutshell. First thing I do when I get it these days is go around turning off all the ads and links to their other subscription features.....but you just can't get all of them, some are stuck.

So its OK, should and could be better but I think the creators have the wrong motivations.

 

Ok... I am using Vista, and have been successful, so don't be too scared by the other posts. I did, however, have a problem with this download. For whatever reason, after waiting for it to download, I tried to install it and it informed me that the file was corrupt and needed to be downloaded again. Not knowing for sure whether the problem would repeat itself, I instead went to the Intuit download site and downloaded it from there ([...]). You'll still need to purchase it from here to get the good price (the price on the Intuit site is $[...]), but when I downloaded from there, the install went fine.

So, my recommendation.... buy it for cheap here to get your product and registration key, but download it from Intuit!

The only reason I purchased the 2010 Quick Books upgrade is because you are FORCED to upgrade every two years if you want to use any Turbo tax programs with Quick Books . Also after the two year period you are no longer able to use the email invoice option, Quick Books being the customer friendly group they are makes sure that it is no longer a working part of the program. The best part is Quick Books is constantly trying to sell you on all their unnecessary add on junk from credit card processing to marketing services while you are working on the program. The "do not show again " boxes do not work when checked ........... they constantly continue to pop up even after being selected to not show again.

If you are able, and I was not able to find, any other program that works as a decent book keeping program I would buy it.

* The Install *

We tested out QB Pro 2010 by upgrading our 2009 Pro install and loading our company file.

The install took about 15 minutes and retained many of our settings from QB 2009. The installer did hang at the end hand had to be killed with task manager (Win XP).

* First Run *

After installing, we ran QB 2010 and it needed to download an update. This process took about 10 minutes, and then it needed to convert our company file to the new format. Not a big deal, but don't try to load a file from QB 2010 on previous versions--backwards compatibility is lost.

Actually running the program, we find some minor updates, as well as many familiar old annoyances. The toolbar is again littered with icons for Intuit products we're not interested in (we had cleaned this up when we installed 2009). The Intuit Community pops up, but you can disable it in preferences.

The interface is littered with Intuit products they want you to buy. For example, there is an item "Email Marketing" in three separate menus, Company, Customer, and Online Services. We tried this menu option and it complained that IE was not our default browser. (Duh, it's called security.)

* Summary *

QuickBooks Pro 2010 is a minor update (the new company snapshot is nice, the new products they're trying to sell you are not) feature-wise. The software works well enough to tolerate and everybody uses it. Accountants know it. This is why we use it. We wish there was another option for us as Intuit is not a customer-friendly company in our opinion. They try to hard to get you to pay for minor features that should be included. They should spend more focus on the customer experience and let the revenue streams follow, not vice versa.

They must. Decent accounting program that everyone knows about, yet each year, they work harder and harder to get more of your money and to piss you off.

Intuit has one plus -- I will NEVER complain about Microsoft. Could you image using Windows where there was a pop up every 15 mintues to sell you an add on service?

Every site has tons of hate mail about Intuit -- for the very same things: updates that do not work or break working editions, constant demands for money, and new editions that are not new.

I have several friends that are developers for MS. At MS there are lists of horribly coded programs that MS tests thier beta programs on. Top of the list, they say, is QB. They say Intuit uses every schlock coding shortcut -- anything to save a buck or a penny or a Indian Shilling.

Intuit, everything that Adobe is not.

I had Quickbooks Pro 2010 up and running in 10 minutes flat, including setting my husband up with an excel file he could use on his iMac and iPhone to enter his data. We're a two platform family. He's a musician who also does some recording, and he will not switch back and forth from Mac to PC.

I use both platforms for different things and have not found a good software accounting program that I like on the Mac. I was not sure when I decided to get this whether it would be worth the time to port excel files back and forth, but so far, it's easy and seamless.

I set up the excel columns to match the Quickbooks file, and everything comes right in so that I can map the expenses, write the invoices, and keep the data straight for taxes. The PC interface is sleek and intuitive, and the program runs very quickly. So far, I haven't had a crash or a glitch, but I'm not asking a whole lot of it.

My sole complaint is that there are a host of features within this program that are available only by subscription. It's not a big deal for me, because my needs are really simple, but if I were using this for anything more than a one-man show, I would feel a little frustrated that more services weren't included with the not-insubstantial price of the software.

 

I have been a fan of the Quickbooks series for quite some time. Back when Windows 95 was the alternative to DOS I used to fight my boss about the benefits of Quickbooks over say, Peachtree which used to be DOS only. Move ahead to now and I dont think I would recommend this package to anyone. The overall functionality is there. The thing that really chafes me is the way they dangle "add ons" that you must purchase. Why? Its because they know the average user does may not need payroll. Fine, then don't ship it with the software. Instead, make this addon an inexpensive purchase, NOT a subscription. That is highway robbery. Sticking it to the small business that may use this software is underhanded and petty.

Pros:

>> Easy to use
>> Low learning curve
>> Basics are plenty for most small businesses

Cons:
<< Subscription service to add payroll & more
<< Feel ripped off when using this software like they just want to dip into your pockets every time you use it.

Overall if you just need a basic accounting software for your business you may be better off looking somewhere else. This package is "very" basic and you will need to add a good deal more subscriptions or addons to get it to the level of some higher priced initially, but overall better software packages.

Thank you for reading my review.

BUYER BEWARE !!!! Quickbooks charges you ($79)from day one to support the product. The first time I went to use the product it failed. I called support over in the Phiippines and before they would look at the problem they need $79 dollars. Now mind you this is a problem on day one. I then called the corporate office, and talked to Terry and she confirmed NO $ MONEY NO FIX!! I explained again this glich is in their product on day one. I asked to talk to her manager and she responded she was the end of the line in the complaint department. I asked to have Brad Smith whom she said was the president to call me back and she said he will not talk to customers. That leaves the customer knowing that he doesn't care about customers or that there are too many complains to answer. Is Amazon ok with selling products that the vendors will not back? Check it out for yourself call Intuit Quick @ 650-944-6000 and ask for Brad Smith.