I used to use an Excel spreadsheet and I think I will just go back to this.

"One upgrade that I regret."
I've used Quicken since it's first windows based version (and even a dos version before that). I upgraded from Quicken Basic 1999 to the 2003 version because of the hefty rebate when purchasing Turbotax. The basic register works well, and I got to like the scroll down account list to the left, but reconciling is more of a hassel, and for me the straw that breaks the camel's back is the reports. In my contracting business I use a variety of reports to track job expenses to various clients using categories and classes to sort them out as needed. The reports frequently lock up, so you have to reboot when you use the "customize reports" feature. They display on a small screen so they are difficult to read, they do not print out as cleanly, and the program memorizes and saves your reports in a totally crazy manner. If you quickzoom on an item you have to restart the original report when you go back. After 6 months of aggrivation I put my old version of Quicken 99 (itself not without some flaws)back on, but I cannot get it to recognize my data. I'll call for technical support sometime, but it seems that they work the same hours as I do (except I'm out in the field, not in front of the computer). Also, since my work computer does not have an internet connection, the frequent prompting for internet services and the constant display of the useless internet buttons is annoying.

At this point,however, I wish that I had not smashed the Quicken 2003 CD up and thrown it into the ... can.

"Quicken is the best home finance program"
I've been using Quicken for about 13 years. Quicken is easy to use and gives good snapshots and graphs of your finances in one centralized place. Don't take the negative reviews too seriously, Quicken is the best personal finance program on the market. While I've had my beefs with Quicken over the years, the negative comments here are WAY off base and ill-informed. The ability to download transactions directly from your bank is awesome. Not all banks support it, but when it is available, it's great. To use Quicken properly requires personal committment, you get out of Quicken what you put into it. Quicken has a MUCH easier and more intuitive user interface than Money. I tried Money a couple years ago, and was totally lost. If you try Quicken and find your head swimming, then go buy a Quicken instruction book, possible "Quicken for Dummies", something to explain it in simple terms. It's a great product.

"Quicken 2003 Stinks !!!"
After using Quicken for 8 or so years, I'm sorry to say that buying Quicken 2003 is buying aggravation if you want to do anything besides basic addition and subtraction.
The manual ? It stinks.
Online help? It stinks.
Chat help ? Not on weekends or evenings after 7:00.
Telephone support ?...not available evenings after 7:00 or weekends.

I've wasted way too much time trying to get online accounts to run, etc. I'm very disappointed. Once upon a time I respected Intuit, but no more. It seems most of the product now is geared to get you to put stock trading information into Quicken's system...

"Great product; not so good if you don't want online accounts"
This review is written from the point of view of someone who does not use the online features of Quicken. I'm sure those features have value, but if you want to use them I recommend you find a reviewer who can tell you about them. If like me you just use Quicken to record your financial transactions then read on.

The fundamentals of Quicken haven't changed much between this version and 1999, which was the previous version I used. However, I think users of older versions will find this one irritating in several ways. First, Quicken tries very hard to make all your accounts online. This means that you can't create an account that does not refer to an online institution without a bit of extra trouble; and once you've created the account, every time you try to reconcile, it wants you to download information from the web. If you're tracking the downloaded information in any other way, as I am, this is just an irritant.

A second irritation is that once you do set up an account online, you are forced to change your password for each account. I actually agree that this is good security practice, but the user should be notified ahead of time that this will happen.

The screen area devoted to the actual Quicken layout is smaller. Much of the extra area is devoted to what are essentially advertisements for more Quicken products and functionality. With a bit of work I was able to figure out how to increase the area displaying transactions, but it's still less than it used to be.

The old tabbed layout, with right hand tabs for open accounts, has been changed to a left hand menu that is not shrinkable beyond a certain point. The bottom inch of the screen is reserved for clickable icons for your online accounts; this menu can't be removed -- a tremendous irritation as I never use it. There is no way to mark an account as "not an online account any more".

Reconciling is much as before, but the old facility whereby a carriage return would mark a transaction as reconciled and also move you down a line is gone. This is the single most annoying change for me; it more than doubles the time it takes to reconcile.

Overall, Quicken is a wonderful program, and I strongly recommend it -- it does great things and will save you time. But this version is, for me at least, a real step backwards. If, like me, you don't plan to use the fancy online features, I would recommend buying an older version if you have confidence it will run on your computer.