I needed to upgrade two Microsoft Windows 10 systems running QuickBooks Pro
2011 to QuickBooks Pro 2016 after the Microsoft Windows 10 Anniversary
Update was installed automatically on those systems. QuickBooks Pro 2011 would
stop working after the user tried to proceed past the user name and password
prompt to open the company file - see
QuickBooks 2011 crashes at startup.
I found others complaining about the same problem after the Anniversary Update
was installed. I resolved the problem by updating QuickBooks to QuickBooks Pro
2016, but that upgrade was not without problems as well.
A user reported to me that QuickBooks was crashing when she tried to use it.
When I attempted to start the QuickBooks 2011 program, it would get to the
point where I could enter the username and password, but when I tried to
proceed beyong that point it would stop working with
the message below:
QuickBooks has stopped working
A problem caused the program to stop working correctly.
Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available.
If you use a desktop version of Intuit's Quicken 2015 for managing
your personal and/or business finances and have also installed the
mobile application, Quicken 2014/15/16 Companion, on your phone, but
find that certain accounts that are present in the desktop version are
not appearing on the mobile version, then check the
"accounts to sync" settings within the "Intuit ID, Mobile &
Alerts" preferences within Quicken on the desktop system to ensure that
Quicken on the desktop is configured to syncrhonize those particular
accounts with the Quicken app on a mobile device.
I received a call today from someone who reported that she had started
compressing a QuickBooks file, since she wanted to upload the data to
Intuit's site (QuickBooks 2013 provides a "condense" function that is
accessible from the File menu by choosing Utilities then
Condense data), but during the process of removing old entries from
many years ago the company owner needed her to do some work in QuickBooks
so she terminated the compression operation. As soon as she told me
that I suspected she was calling because by doing so the company file
had been corrupted. That seemed to be the case, because she said she
could no longer find any entries in the file for this year besides those
for today. She thought that the QuickBooks data was being backed up to
an external, USB-attached disk drive on her system, but when I checked
its contents I found that the last backup to that drive had occurred a
couple of years ago.
Fortunately the data was stored on a Microsoft Windows system running a
version of Windows that uses Microsoft's
Volume Snapshot Service
, which allows you to simply right-click on a file or folder name,
choose Properties and then click on the Previous Versions tab
and select from shadow copies of the file or folder that were made
previously, though in this case I didn't even need to do that.
I use Quicken 2015 Home & Business to manage our finances. One annoyance
I encountered recently was that when I viewed the details for the mortgage
account, the balance was listed correctly, but on the left side of the screen
where the balances are listed for all accounts, the balance shown for the
mortgage account under the Property section was wrong. The amount
that was displayed was the amount shown for the current balance when I looked
at the transaction display for the account plus the original balance when
we purchased the house. The two balances had matched previously; I think the
incorrect amount under the Property section of Accounts
started appearing with an incorrect amount after I reconciled all of the
transactions in the mortgage account. But even after I unchecked entries to
make them unreconciled to see if that would eliminate the discrepancy, the
discrepancy remained. And that discrepancy resulted in an incorrect
equity being shown when I clicked on Equity when viewing the
mortgage account. The equity was being shown as a negative value, i.e.,
Quicken was claiming I owed more on the house than the house was worth.
I exited from the program then restarted it, but the discrepancy remained.
So I decided to backup the Quicken data file and then perform a repair
operation. So I backed up our data by going to File, Backup and
Restore, then Backup Quicken File. Then, to run a repair
operation, I clicked on File then File Operations. From
that option I could select Validate and Repair, but before I selected
it, I noticed that now the amount shown for the balance owed on the mortgage
was correct under Property in the listing of accounts. It seems
that just performing the backup resulted in the discrepancy being resolved. I
certainly didn't expect that to resolve the problem, but I was glad just doing
that apparently resolved the problem. Quicken was also now showing a correct
positive equity value based on what I had estimated for our home's
current value minus what we still owed on the mortgage.
To locate the U.S. Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) issued by
the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in QuickBooks 2011, open the company
file using a QuickBooks admin account then take the following steps:
Select Company from the menu bar.
Select Company Information. The EIN is
in the Company Identification section.
The information can only be viewed or modified from a QuickBooks admin
account.
I wanted to create a new business expense category in Quicken 2014 named
Hardware. But when I created a new expense category, the category
always defaulted to be a personal expense. I could not locate a means to
specify that I wanted the new category to be in the business rather than
personal group and I didn't see any way to change the classification to
business after the category was created. I could put the new business expense
category as a subcategory beneath an existing business category, but that is
not what I wanted to do. There is a way to put the new category as a top-level
category in the business group rather than have it be a subcategory, though,
by first creating it as a subcategory and then changing it.
Click on Tools.
Select Category List.
Click on the Add Category button.
Type a name for the new category in the Category Name field.
Select the Subcategory of radio button and pick a business
category, such as "Supplies (Business)". Add a description if you like.
Click on the Tax Reporting tab and make any changes, if any
are needed, there.
Click on OK.
Right-click on the new category in the category list, then select the
Expense radio button, rather than the Subcategory of one.
Click on OK.
Click on Done to close the Category List window.
The category will remain as a business category after the change.
If you wish to see the list of previously opened company files that would be
displayed inside QuickBooks when QuickBooks is open, but no company file is
open, without opening QuickBooks, you can query the registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Intuit\QuickBooksCommon\QBFinder
using the reg query command. E.g.:
The .qbw files displayed would be ones you could select by clicking
on them from the "No Company Open" window inside QuickBooks. The
"|23|professional" at the end can be ignored, if you only want to know
the file names and locations. The directory path and file names displayed
can then be used to backup any relevant QuickBooks files to another location
for archiving, for instance, without needing to open QuickBooks.
If you see the following message when you attempt to open a company file
from a prior version of QuickBooks in QuickBooks 2013, which
prevents you from opening the file, you will need to provide a
user name and password for a QuickBooks account that has administrator
level access to the file instead of the account credentials you are
using.
Warning
This company file needs to be updated. Please ask your QuickBooks
Administrator to update the file.
You can get a free credit report from the 3 major credit reporting companies,
TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian through
www.annualcreditreport.com. You will need to provide your Social Security
Number (SSN). From that site you can go to the 3 reporting companies one by
one and get a report from each.
You are entitled to one free report from each nationwide credit reporting
company per year. It is entirely your choice whether you order all three
credit reports at the same time or order one now and others later. The
advantage of ordering all three at the same time is that you can compare
them. However, you will not be eligible for another free credit report
from the Central Source, i.e., through annualcreditreport.com, for 12 months. On
the other hand, the advantage of ordering one now and others later
(for example, one credit report every four months) is that you can keep
track of any changes or new information that may appear on your credit
report. Remember, you are entitled to receive one free credit report
through the Central Source every 12 months from each of the nationwide
consumer credit reporting companies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion
– so if you order from Yonly one company today you can still order
from the other two companies at a later date.
You can't get a free credit score, which is a mathematical algorithm
that is used to evaluate information in an individual's credit file.
A credit score is used by a lender to help determine whether a person
qualifies for a particular credit card, loan, or service. Most credit
scores estimate the risk a company incurs by lending a person money
or providing them with a service — specifically, the likelihood
that the person will make payments on time in the next two to three
years. Generally, the higher the score, the less risk the person
represents. You can opt to pay for the credit score, if you choose.
There are lots of services that purport to give you free credit reports that
can actually prove to be quite costly. The way they work is that you get a
"free" report by providing a credit card to pay for a monthly credit monitoring
service. The trick is that the companies can make it almost impossible for you
to cancel the service, so you may pay $80 or more a year for the "free" service.
Just because you see it advertised on TV, don't think the company advertised
won't try that trick.
How consumers were deceived. Consumerinfo.com and
freecreditreport.com advertised "free credit reports," but failed to
inform consumers that they were automatically signing up for credit
report monitoring services and would be charged $79.95 if they did
not cancel within 30 days. The FTC also charged that the web site
freecreditreport.com failed to inform consumers that it was not associated
with the official annual free credit report program established by recent
amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Consumers were drawn to Consumerinfo.com and freecreditreport.com web
sites through radio, television, e-mail and Internet ads promising free
credit reports and free monitoring services. In some cases, consumers
were led to the sites through an Internet search for terms such as "free
credit report," "free credit score," and "free credit history." Consumers
who visited the sites were required to supply a great deal of personal
information in addition to a valid credit card number. When membership
was not cancelled within 30 days, credit card accounts were charged.
For Experian, to return to your report in the near future, log on to
www.experian.com/consumerExperian and select “View your report
again” or “Dispute” and then enter the report number
provided when you first view the report. The experian site offers a
service called VantageScore® that currently
charges you $7.95 to get your credit score. TransUnion offers the credit score
for $14.95, but you have to sign up for a monthly service.
