13 rows  We spent over 60 hours testing 20 personal finance apps and programs to find the best. Quicken is the personal finance software of choice for Windows users, but what if you’re a Mac person? How do i cancel an outgoing message in outlook 2011 for mac. Quicken 2018 for Mac should be the easy answer, but it’s completely different from the Windows version, and many users have found it to be a nonstarter.

Accounting Software Well, this one is a tricky pony. As expected, it has some and makes your life much easier, but on the other hand, I can guarantee that some customers will be deeply disappointed. Seems to me that this one can be both great or bad, depending upon your needs.

The older version of Quicken Essentials would not work on the upgraded OS, which nowadays gives this product an obvious edge. For me, the purchase was more of an urgent need, rather than one made after careful research. This version one came free with this year’s TurboTax, which sounds great but imagine my surprise when it deleted all previous versions of Quicken! When I tried to manually alter an account balance I received a warning that I need the premium version to do so. To many users, this may be frustrating. Not being able to perform the simplest of all functions might seem like a dealbreaker, especially if we consider that the new version is much more expensive.

The product boasts a new pastel interface with larger fonts, with substantially no new features worth upgrading for. It seems to me that this font thing is a trend now. Personally, I don’t care for it and larger font just forces me to scroll the screen more often. Long story short, I would not recommend this product to someone who is perfectly happy with an older one, and most importantly, still has an older version of OS. If you happen to use an upgraded OS Quicken Starter 2018 may actually work just fine for you. The software installed without any issues in a few minutes.

It is as easy to use as the old version, which is great, and my bank downloads and connections all updated without problems as well. All bank downloads are categorized and organized and you don’t have to put every single transaction from your chequebook individually. Registration is also very quick and super easy. Some may argue that there are too many categories built into the program but I happen to be a person who likes that. In fact, I can make my own categories and it is very easy to do so. Honestly, I am not a computer genius, so if I could do it, my bet is that you will too.

I have only needed tech support one time and the problem was solved immediately and professionally. Obviously, this starter edition is one level below the Deluxe edition and isn’t interchangeable with the Deluxe software for backup files. Also, you can’t see your running balance if you are using a filter, but since I don’t do it, for me it is not an issue.

In conclusion, this could be your best, or worst buy in the field of account balancing. Consider it only if you are using the latest OS and are prepared to spend an extra cash for the premium version.

If that’s the case this is perfect for you, if not, don’t waste your hard earned cash. Get organized with.