(Credit:
Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)
With Quicken 2010, Intuit strives to make its classic money management application easier to navigate and simpler to understand in less time, thanks to spruced-up visuals. Although a solid balance-keeper and financial assistant, Quicken needs every boost it can get. Web-based software is growing more sophisticated and stylish every day and users are increasingly less wary of dealing with banking online. These conditions form two pincer points squeezing traditional desktop software like Quicken.
Many of Quicken 2010's additions are cosmetic changes that streamline and simplify its offering. There's a set-up wizard that guides you through importing your financial information, bill reminders, and budgets. A new home page summarizes your standing, and pared down navigation makes it easier to find what you need. The most active new feature in Quicken 2010 takes a stab at automatically categorizing your transactions, with a little help from you if there's any doubt. Software that knows Safeway is a supermarket and Macy's is a clothing store isn't rocket science, but it's a must if desktop Quicken is to not become cannibalized by its own Mint.com
It's mostly Quicken's top layer that gets prettified. Scratch the surface and many of the app's second-tier tools feel like a throwback to text-heavy data surfacing, like the calculators, planners, and lists. This may not bother legacy users, or those who aren't put off by blocks of texts and charts, but others who have come to enjoy the instant understanding inherent in a well-made infographic may shut the window and move on rather than wade through text.
Some tools, like the bill reminder, are still a tad clunky.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Quicken 2010 could use a few more online social net links, too, such as an option to sync reminders to an online calendar. And we're pretty sure we could live without the app installing three icons to the desktop. Really, Intuit. One is plenty.
Intuit isn't blind to consumers' changing expectations in management software, online or offline. Quicken 2010's refurbished look does help, and conservatives who feel more comfortable keeping monetary details locally stored rather than encrypted in the cloud lose nothing by downloading a free trial. For strictly online users with only personal finances (not investments, property, or small businesses), Intuit offers a free, online version to challenge its own Mint.com. It has budgeting, tracking, and reminders, encryption, an iPhone component, and the added capability to prep the data for tax time, assuming you also use one of Intuit's TurboTax products.
If you've used Quicken before, you can import data from previous years. The same goes for anyone switching over from Microsoft Money.
Pricing and sweepstakes
Intuit advertises five Quicken 2010 products on its Web site, including the online version: Quicken Deluxe ($59.99); Quicken Premier ($89.99), which helps track investments; Quicken Home & Business ($99.99); and Quicken Rental Property Management ($149.99). There's also the lighter Quicken Starter Edition for $29.99.
Intuit is also launching a sweepstakes prize to pay one month's rent--up to $2,500--in December 2009. The contest begins on October 15, 2009. You'll find the rules at quickenfreerent.com.
When you look at your Windows desktop, what do you see? A neat and tidy display with a few judiciously picked icons, or a meaningless morass of files, folders, ancient pictures, and Web links that were dumped without logic and continue to steadily march across your computer screen? Stop me if this sounds familiar. Stop me again if the thought has crossed your mind to clean house on a dozen occasions in the last few years, but the prospect of sifting through the refuse has deterred you every time.
Look Ma, I cleaned my desktop.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Happily, a pretty darn good solution is at hand. ... Read more
Music syncing is the only media feature right now, but it easily grabs iTunes playlists.
(Credit: Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)On Friday, BlackBerry maker RIM released its first-ever Desktop Manager for Mac users. As we announced last week, the free BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac will update certain apps, back up and restore BlackBerry content, and sync content like music playlists, contacts, and calendar items between your Mac to your smartphone.
We spent some time managing our BlackBerry Bold with it. So far, our experience has been positive. However, RIM did miss some opportunities in this first release, especially on the multimedia front. We'll come back to those a little later. ... Read more
Someone told me recently that they had 22 different log-in IDs. My first thought was, you must get out more. My second thought was, how do you remember 22 different Web services, let alone log-in IDs and passwords?
The answer, of course, is a password manager. These days, I see PC security as a form of insurance. The more you have to risk, the more you should spend to protect it. Anyone who banks or otherwise transacts online will find the investment in a password and personal-data manager worthwhile. Fortunately, if your password-management needs are meager, the protection doesn't have to cost you anything.
Siber Systems recently announced the beta version of RoboForm Online that lets RoboForm users store their log-in data securely online. Just log into the service from any browser and get fast access to the IDs you've saved on your PC. With just one you're logged into your favorite Web sites.
Log into the RoboForm Online service to access your favorite Web services with a single click.
(Credit: Siber Systems)The first time you use the program, you're prompted to enter a master password. You can change the master password via the program's Options drop-down menu and selecting Security settings, but if you forget a master password, you have to delete all the password-protected files and start over.
... Read more
Paragon's robust partition-management software is available free, but only for today.
(Credit: Paragon Software Group)Normally $39.95, Paragon Software's Partition Manager 10.0 Personal can be yours absolutely free. Today only. From software-freebie site Giveaway of the Day.
If you haven't visited the site before, here's how it works: You've got until midnight tonight (ET) to download and install the software. Other than that, there are absolutely no strings attached.
Well, OK, one "string" is that if you ever need to reinstall the software, you're outta luck. Its setup/registration process is tied to the date. But, hey, keep in mind you're getting a $40 app free of charge. You gonna gripe about that tiny gotcha?
True to its name, Partition Manager provides tools for partitioning your hard drive(s). That means you could have, say, Windows XP running on one partition and Windows 7 on another (a great solution for folks who want to migrate to the new OS gradually rather than all at once).
The software also features drive-optimization and -defragmentation tools, a boot fixer, a basic backup wizard, and a recovery-CD option.
I haven't found many reviews of Partition Manager 10.0 Personal, but over at Amazon it averages 4.5 stars out of 5, and 81% of users on the GotD site gave it a thumbs-up--a pretty high percentage compared with most freebies.
The program runs on Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and 7. There's a special 64-bit version available (download), which you should definitely choose if you're running a 64-bit OS.
Obviously this isn't a utility everybody needs, but if you have even the slightest interest in partitioning your hard drive, it's a no-brainer: grab it.
Up until last week, Palm Pre users could manage their media content on iTunes. Apple's iTunes update swiftly put an end to the openness. Yet Pre users and owners of other mobile phones can use a similar program as a workaround.
DoubleTwist (for Windows and Mac) is a beta effort led by a Norwegian man best known for reverse engineering DRM controls. In this How To video, CNET Editor Brian Tong shows how DoubleTwist easily syncs your mobile phone with your iTunes music collection, even when iTunes won't.
Last February, I described losing half my iPhone contacts after an iTunes sync. Even though I tried the Filadex Web-based contact manager, I don't like the fact that the information is stored unencrypted on Web servers.
More importantly, my iPhone always has my most up-to-date telephone and address contact list, while Gmail knows more about my e-mail correspondents than the iPhone does, and Google Calendar is my primary scheduler. Just to complicate matters, I spend most of my workdays (and some weekends, unfortunately) in Outlook.
I need to export my Google Calendar and Gmail addresses to Outlook and my iPhone, and move my iPhone telephone numbers and physical addresses to Gmail and Outlook. Simple, right? Well, it turned out to be not too difficult or time-consuming, although the result was a bit messy.
Sync Google Calendar with calendars in Outlook and the iPhone
Who knew Google Calendar and Outlook could play so nice? The aptly named Google Calendar Sync does the trick with just a few clicks and a minimum of thumb-twiddling. The program works with Outlook 2003 and 2007 on XP and Vista PCs, though it doesn't support 64-bit XP, according to Google.
After you download and install the program, you enter your Google ID and password and choose one of three options: sync from and to Google Calendar and Outlook; sync from Google Calendar to Outlook; or sync from Outlook to Google Calendar. The default sync time is 120 minutes, and the minimum setting is 10 minutes; there's no mention of a maximum setting. The sync begins after you click Save.
Choose two-way or one-way sync between Outlook and Google Calendar in the Google Calendar Sync utility.
(Credit: Google)Up-and-down arrows on the Google Calendar icon in the notification area indicate a sync in progress; hover over it to see the percent complete or the time of the last sync.
The program converted my relatively simple Google Calendar to Outlook 2007 with surprising accuracy. In fact, the two calendars appeared and acted very much alike. Keep in mind, I didn't transfer any tricky repeating appointments, invitations, or time-zone changes. But for my meager calendar needs, the sync was fast and comprehensive.
To sync your Google Calendar and Gmail contacts with an iPhone, simply use the phone to create a Google Sync account. Instructions for OS version 2.2 and 3.0 are on the Google Mobile Help site.
Unfortunately, Google Sync is limited in the fields it supports and doesn't let you exclude entries or deal with duplicates. These and other of the program's limitations are described on the Google Sync Help page.
Move your iPhone contacts to Gmail and Outlook, or vice-versa
Use iTunes to export your iPhone contacts to Outlook--and Gmail, if you choose not to go the Google Sync route described above. Plug your iPhone into your PC, choose the device in iTunes' left pane, and select the Info tab. Pick either Outlook or Google Contacts in the "Sync contacts from" drop-down menu. (Yahoo Address Book and Windows Address Book are the other options.) For Outlook, you can choose which groups to sync. For Gmail, you enter your user ID and password.
Your only sync options are to merge or replace the entries iTunes identifies as duplicates, and to choose between two entries pegged as conflicts. The resulting sync was full of double entries, but I would much rather deal with manually merging the dupes than losing the information either entry contains.
iTunes' sync with Google Contacts provides few options for dealing with duplicate entries.
(Credit: Apple)I'll probably spend another hour or so cleaning up the extra entries created by the contact sync, but that's much less time than I'd spend trying to replace the info.
We were struck by Gwabbit for BlackBerry's utility for the business set. Few could fail to miss the significance on your typing fingers of a program that scans your incoming e-mail for new contacts and automatically adds them to your phone book.
So, now we're back with a video that shows off the handy contact manager in real life, including what to do those times when the application doesn't quite work as promised.
Gwabbit is a Microsoft Outlook add-on, and now a BlackBerry application, that helps business professionals who get the names, numbers, and e-mail addresses from a contact's e-mail into their address book without all the tedious typing.
(Credit:
Technicopia)
Gwabbit works its trade by automatically searching the signature block at the end of an e-mail and comparing that to the entries in your Outlook or BlackBerry address book. If there are discrepancies or omissions between the two, Gwabbit will launch and ask if you'd like to create a new address book entry or overwrite an existing one. Gwabbit's edge over Outlook and BlackBerry's native contact management systems is its proficiency in almost instantly grabbing e-mail, phone numbers, and title to create more information-rich entries than either technology's contact-builder does alone.
... Read moreIf you wanted to check your bank balance, Netflix queue, and eBay purchases from your BlackBerry or iPhone, which would you start with first? If you answered "all three," take a look at Pageonce, which we've spotlighted in this First Look video.
After logging in on your phone, you'll be able to view what is essentially a stylized RSS feed of your financial, social-networking, travel, and shopping accounts, the details of which are secured from prying eyes in a number of ways. Pageonce for iPhone comes in a free, ad-supported version and in a pro version that costs about $10. Pageonce for BlackBerry costs $10 for the same features as the iPhone pro version.
