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(More customer reviews)Here is my review of Microsoft Money 2006 Premium, that is, last year's model. Honestly, after I installed Money 2007, I simply could not find any differences from Money 2006. Whatever improvements Microsoft put in, I don't use.
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. See also item 6. below.
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. Purchase the normal, CD-ROM version of Money, rather than the downloaded (electronic only) version.
WARNING: unconfirmed by my personal experience. Amazon.com sells this software product in a box containing a CD-ROM and some sketchy paper documentation. You can also download the software directly from Microsoft. But I have been told that the direct purchase from Microsoft requires the use of Passport. As I state in 1. above, I believe that Passport is a bad idea. So it is probably wise to purchase the physical, CD-ROM version from Amazon.com.
7. 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!
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