- quote -

idea what the intelligence level is of folks on this group. For people
without source code to the product, I think the knowledge level is superb.

-- John

"David Arnstein" <arnstein[at]panix.com> wrote in message
news:e291jk$4e7$1[at]reader1.panix.com...
- quote -

My biggest gripe with Money (might want to add to your review).

"no" off line help. You have to be on the internet to do anything.

Similarly, the only user guide is on line at microsoft. Where is the .pdf
file, so it can be searched?

"David Arnstein" wrote:

- quote -

"David Arnstein" <arnstein[at]panix.com> wrote in message
news:e2bmud$8et$1[at]reader1.panix.com...
- quote -

Then why not be silent? It's not necessary to be so rudely critical. The
writer offered a different view. He did not insult you, as you seem to want
to do to others.
--
Chris Cowles
Gainesville, FL

"Retired Coal Miner" <...[at]...> wrote in message
news:Nq2dnW3VYaFdr9TZnZ2dnUVZ_vadnZ2d[at]comcast.com...
- quote -

Which he followed with "But it is not worth it."

I'm not arguing in favor of either opinion but, if you read his carefully,
it's not self-contradictory.

On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 01:23:00 +0000 (UTC), arnstein[at]panix.com (David
Arnstein) wrote:

- quote -


What he means is you are initiating the update manually. Background
updates are done automatically without your intervention. I agree with
coal miner - you haven't had enough experience with the software to
being reviewing or giving advise to others yet - just my thoughts.

Jim

In article <6o-dnTQXw97q49TZ4p2dnA[at]comcast.com> ,
Retired Coal Miner <...[at]...> wrote:
- quote -

I realize that I have not made myself welcome here, but perhaps you
could elaborate your point. For the benefit of other readers, if not
for me.

In MS Money, I can initiate an update of my accounts at several financial
institutions at once. A dialog box appears in the center of my computer
screen, stating that the update is in progress. It has a little box that
I can click to hide the main dialog box. When I click on the little box,
the entire dialog box disappears, and I can work on Microsoft Money
while the update continues. I can open any account register and enter
transactions into it. I can run reports. And so forth.

Now, how is "background banking or online services" (as you put it)
different from my use of the software?
--
David Arnstein | Have fun with your spams:
arnstein+usenet[at]pobox.com | http://www.bluesecurity.com

Wow, several months of using M06. I never would have guessed.

To clue you in, you're not using background banking or online services.
Reread what I said.

Stick to writing reviews of Playboy books and 100 Naked Girls on amazon.
Once you have a track record of 1) being more civil on here and 2)
actually spewing something useful -- besides the brilliant,
break-through advice of keeping several Money backup files, and backing
up your entire disk drive -- (did you come up with those on your own, or
read it in the FAQ?), perhaps I'll have more faith in what you say.

David Arnstein wrote:

- quote -

In article <uvoWaZRZGHA.5004[at]TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl> ,
Dave J. <v_8djewe[at]msn.com> wrote:
- quote -

Dave J., thank you for your post. Obviously we are not going to agree
on a lot of issues, but I appreciate your information about the online
version of Microsoft Money.

I will update my review on Amazon.com to include your information. I
don't expect that you will like the second version of my review. But I
do believe that your information will improve it.

Respectfully,
--
David Arnstein | Have fun with your spams:
arnstein+usenet[at]pobox.com | http://www.bluesecurity.com

In article <Nq2dnW3VYaFdr9TZnZ2dnUVZ_vadnZ2d[at]comcast.com> ,
Retired Coal Miner <...[at]...> wrote:
- quote -

You are wrong sir. I have been using Microsoft Money 2006 Premium for
several monthes. I have never supplied a Passport username and so I am
not using Yodlee. I regularly update these accounts without using a
web browser, without downloading a QIF or OFX file. I just use the
menu item in the Banking pane to update accounts:

Union Bank of California
USAA Savings Bank
Fidelity Investments

You do not know what you are talking (writing) about so you should not
be posting in the first place.

Memo to Theorbo: this is the sort of post that motivated me to use the
phrase "solidly mediocre." I was not trying to insult or compliment. I
was trying to be diplomatic. Today, I am not trying to be diplomatic.
--
David Arnstein | Have fun with your spams:
arnstein+usenet[at]pobox.com | http://www.bluesecurity.com

You cannot do both #1 (don't use passport) and what you are implying in
the 4th paragraph of #3 (many ... financial institutions will download
your account transactions directly into MS Money without the use of
Yodlee).

Assuming 'directly' means Background Banking, also called online
services, (and not opening an QIF/OFX file you manually downloaded), you
need a passport to do it.

Number on on your list is DONT USE Passport

Not a bad idea if you want to use the software offline and dont require
single access to all your accounts away from home. but doing so renders half
the features of the software useless. Further more if you purchase the
software from Microsoft online then you require the use of passport to
complete the download of the program files.

Not the best advice!
"David Arnstein" <arnstein[at]panix.com> wrote in message
news:e291jk$4e7$1[at]reader1.panix.com...
- quote -

"David Arnstein" <arnstein[at]panix.com> wrote in message
news:e291jk$4e7$1[at]reader1.panix.com...
- quote -


"Solidly mediocre" ? Is that an insult or compliment??

--
wanna email me? remove '%*%'

I like to write product reviews on Amazon.com. I wrote one today for
Microsoft Money 2006 Premium. Actually, my "review" is an opinionated
guide to using the software. Comments welcome. Here is my review:

Here is what you must do to have a good experience with this product:

1. Never use Microsoft Passport.

Passport is a universal password that can be used to sign on to
multiple bank accounts, brokerages, merchants, and God knows what
else. It is a security disaster. Avoid it!

Your installation of Microsoft Money will be a bit awkward if you want
to avoid Passport. Some users believe that Money won't install unless
you get a Passport. This is false, at least for Money 2006 and earlier
versions. You just have to be careful (and resolute!) while you
install.

2. Never store your financial data online with Microsoft

MS Money allows you to keep all your financial data stored on
Microsoft's computers, as well as on your home computer. This allows
you to access your MS Money data when you are away from your computer.
For the unlucky user, it leads to virtually insoluble computer
nightmares. Apparently, the local and remote copies of your data can
get out of sync. It becomes difficult or impossible to overcome data
corruption on Microsoft's computers. You fix up your local data, and
it gets scrambled again when you connect to Microsoft's computers.

If you observe 1. above, you will not have to worry about 2.

3. Never use Yodlee to download account information from financial
institutions

Yodlee (spit) is a company/method for downloading your account
information from banks, credit card issuers, brokerages, etc. The way
it works is that it impersonates a web browser and surfs your bank's
(or brokerage's or ...) web site in order to suck in your account
details.

The problem is that your bank's web site is designed for browsing by
humans, not software. Small design changes to your bank's web site can
cause Yodlee to scramble the data. Frustrating for you.

Many (but not all) financial institutions will download your account
transactions directly into MS Money without the use of Yodlee. Yodlee
gives you access to a larger collection of financial institutions. But
it is not worth it.

If you observe 1. above, then you will not have to worry about Yodlee.

4. Keep several backup Money files

Microsoft Money stores all of your financial data in a single disk
file on your computer. This is convenient for you. Money also allows
you to store several backup copies of this disk file. I suggest that
you configure Money to store 4 (depending on how paranoid you are)
backup copies. What this means (for example) is that if you work with
Money one time on each of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday, then you will get a total of 5 copies of the file that holds
your financial data. The oldest (backup) copy will reflect the state
of your MS Money data from Monday. The newest (not a backup) will
reflect the state of your MS Money data from Friday.

Why do this? Because like all Microsoft products, Money will
occasionally scramble up your data. If you are not able to unscramble
(there is a "repair" feature that you can try) then your only hope is
to revert to an older copy of your data, and kiss your most recent
updates goodbye.

You might not discover the corruption right away. That's why I suggest
keeping multiple backups.

5. Back up your computer disk

This suggestion is not specific to Microsoft Money. But I feel obliged
to mention this anyway. The more you use MS Money, the more you have
to lose if your computer malfunctions. You can lose disk data due to a
worn out disk drive, or an electronic failure in the computer itself.
Your computer can suffer from fire, flooding, or theft. Your data can
disappear from simple mistakes by users, or by the children of users!

So you have to back up your disk data. Most home computer users don't
bother. But this bears repeating: the more you use an accounting
program like Microsoft Money, the more you need to back up. Get to it!

6. Find a community of knowledgable users

Like all mass market software, the technical support available for
this product is useless. You should find a discussion forum for users
of Microsoft Money. This is where you will go for help with problems
that you cannot solve by yourself. I suggest that you read through the
forum posts even when you don't have a Money problem. Look for major
problems that might affect you. Forewarned, you might be able to avoid
such problems.

Personally, I use the usenet news group microsoft.public.money. It can
be found through microsoft.com or groups.google.com. Generally
speaking, the intelligence level in this ng is solidly mediocre.
That's in the nature of the Microsoft user community. If you find a
better forum, please write an Amazon.com "review" of your own and
share it.

Good luck with Microsoft Money!
--
David Arnstein | Have fun with your spams:
arnstein+usenet[at]pobox.com | http://www.bluesecurity.com