Product Reviews

Microsoft's recently launched Money 98 (reviewed issue 40, p204) came complete with seamless links to the Internet. In fact, the program even looked and behaved just like a Web browser. By contrast, Intuit's Quicken was then relying on a CD-ROM full of multimedia tutorials to give its personal finance package some pizazz.

Intuit is now back in the running and looking to reclaim its position as premier provider of personal finance software. Not only does Quicken 98 arrive as an Internet-enabled application, but you also get Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 thrown in for good measure. Whether or not this integration will help or hinder Quicken remains to be seen.

Investing time

Getting up and running is often the trickiest part of using an accounting system, as lots of information can be required before you're able to start working. Thankfully, Quicken 98 installs almost entirely unaided and only starts asking awkward questions when most of the software is in place.

Intuit has opted for a classy approach to guide you when using Quicken 98 for the first time. As the program loads, your speakers deliver a fanfare and then launch into a recorded message about how to get started. This is presented by a very well-spoken couple, who take it in turns to guide you through a Setup Wizard with on-screen questions and prompts. With this artificial interview over, your basic personal information is in place, and you then move onto creating your first bank account record - again with plenty of verbal help. After this, I was surprised to find that this seemed to be the extent of interactive help. Quicken created my new data file, but then left me at the main screen ready to go.

Being inquisitive, I did start to have a look around. To my relief, as soon as I entered an area where I needed to create records, Quicken fired up a Wizard to guide me through the process. There was no verbal accompaniment this time though, and no sign of the multimedia tutors I thought should have been lurking somewhere.

Despite this, once you're fully acquainted with Quicken you'll find it pretty competent. It keeps tracks of the usual stuff - bank accounts, building society deposits and any credit card loans you might have. Using the built-in accounts for 'other assets' or 'other liabilities', you could set up a full balance sheet if you wished. VAT tracking is also included if you need to combine business with personal finance.

Class of its own

To keep track on your spending and income, and to aid analysis later, Quicken uses Categories within the register. As you enter your transactions, you can assign each one to a category, which can either be one of Intuit's defaults or your own choice. This makes analysis easier later on - you can ask Quicken how much you spent on dining, for example, and it will give you the answer. Items can also be grouped together in a Class, so you could send part of a payment for Motor Expenses to, say, a class called business, and the rest to a private class. This would make light work of disallowable motor expenses when it comes to filling in the tax form at the end of

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the year.

Talking of which, Quicken 98 now comes with a new tax assistant, which helps associate the Quicken categories with those applicable to the Self-Assessment tax form. Deluxe buyers even get QuickTax - Intuit's tax form filler and calculator - thrown in for good measure.

Once you've begun entering data, Quicken's newly customisable reports mean you can discover your true financial situation in a multitude of ways. Graphs, bar charts and EasyAnswer reports, for example, provide the answers to questions like 'where did I spend my money?' or 'how much did I spend onƒ?'. Without any report tailoring, you can quickly see whether you're spending more or less than before, how your investments are doing and what your net worth is.

Webcentric

Quicken 98 hasn't changed much when it comes to entering data. It revolves around a register display where you can type in a line at a time to handle all your transactions. There are one or two specific forms to fill for cheques and so on, but you mostly type straight onto the register screen itself - not unlike a manual cashbook page.

Most of Quicken's appeal, though, has always been the comprehensive way it deals with investments, and this is where the Internet links start to become apparent. New to the portfolio view of your investments, for example, is the Update button. Click here and Quicken will launch your Internet connection and download the latest current share and options prices, along with quotes and exchange rates.

Clicking the new OnLine button connects you to the Web, specifically to Intuit's own Personal Finance Network for financial advice. Here you get insurance quotes, mortgage rate updates, PEP and Unit Trust prices - all from within the Quicken desktop. Unlike Money 98, Quicken 98 doesn't look like a Web browser. Quicken still works like it did before, but now it has links to the Internet and can act as an embedded browser object when required.

Apart from the new Web-related portions of Quicken 98, upgraders will find QuickAlerts quite useful. This keeps an eye on things like minimum account balances or overdraft limits, and yells at you if it looks like things are about to go wrong. Deluxe users also get an emergency records database, so you can keep all the details of your insurance policies and maintenance contracts in one place. The new Invoice Manager also adds business potential for those who are self-employed.

Quicken has always excelled at reporting on your financial position in a highly graphical way, not to mention keeping track of your investment portfolios - some might buy it for this investment tracking alone. This latest version doesn't have the on-line banking facilities of Microsoft Money, and in the home market this is obviously where the most development is happening at the moment - even though the UK is far behind, with only a few High Street banks currently participating.

So should you upgrade? Well, only if you're certain you need the new features. At the time of going to press, PC Pro had received several reports from readers who had problems with the on-line features of Quicken 98. In addition, Intuit is now charging for its technical support, meaning that some people were unable to get Quicken 98 running as they'd hoped. While we didn't experience any serious problems while evaluating Quicken, you should bear this in mind when considering an upgrade.

Quicken 98 is bigger and more complicated than Money, and takes more effort to fully master. If you're not interested in the Web links, or don't need the Invoice Manager business-type features, then Money may be a better choice. For those using Quicken 6, a comprehensive backup may be prudent before upgrading.