Home & Business 2016 install

Hi. I have been a Quicken / Reckon user for a long time, and every year at upgrade time, I shudder, knowing that some disaster is likely to occur. I have just been through the upgrade of Home & Business 2016, and am pleased to advise that my concerns were again justified this year! After waiting 30 minutes to download the new version, I hit the unzip and install buttons to initiate the installation. A dialog box popped up to advise that it could not do the upgrade because I already had an older version installed (who would have thought!). So I clicked OK expecting that the program would do the uninstall and re-install itself, but of course, that would be too predictable. So I had to manually uninstall the older version, and then go searching my hard disk to find recent exe files (most programs would have a link available to save the search). The only exe file I could find took me back to the same place I was earlier, so I had to unpack the zip file again. Installation went smoothly, as did registration. After completing the survey, I closed Reckon and then re-opened, only to get a message to say that it appears that I was using a different computer to that I had originally installed the software on! I had just closed the program 5 seconds previously! So I re-entered the installation key (which I had luckily saved) and am now up and running. If there is one thing I love about Reckon, it is consistency!

Comments

Rav

Hi Jan,

Glad to hear you're up and running successfully but I'm sorry to read that it was a pretty rough ride in getting there!

I've run this past our Development team and will give you an update once I hear back.

Cheers
Rav

Rav

Hi again Jan,
Can you please confirm the operating system you're using including the version number and build number.

You can find this by clicking Start then typing "winver" into the search bar within the start menu.

Look forward to hearing from you

Cheers
Rav

Jan Leach

Hi Rav

Windows version 10.0 build 10240

Regards

Jan

gazza73

To readers of this article, seeking some help.....

I'd like to re-phrase the steps for installing 2016 as follows:

1. Downloading the 603MB full kit, depending on the speed on the internet connection and intervening traffic at the time, may take some time.

2. Page 19 of the installation manual outlines the need to remove the previous version.
http://downloads.reckon.com.au/2016_ReckonAccounts_IAUG.pdf

3. Download kits are in a compressed EXE file, usually sitting in your preferred download area for locating when needed. Naturally, this needs to be expanded and installed, otherwise excess disk space would be left in a mess

4. After installation, registration and activation is needed.

5. Given that is a full installation, and introduces a variety of new exe dll and registry settings, the manual suggests that a proper reboot be undertaken to enjoy those new settings. again, see page 19, step 6. Otherwise any immediate attempt to trun the newly installed software, is still using the last booted set of memory resident libraries, settings and dependencies.

(Yes, a necessary step of Microsoft Windows - rebooting whenever significant changes are introduced, rather than a real-time approach of recognising dependencies when requested. - Sorry for the Linux advertisement!)

So, to "the things to count on"..... to discover whether the manual has left out any vital steps, otherwise, the outcome appears fine if the full story is considered.

Apologies for being a little blunt, but from a Community perspective, the idea is to help fellow users to enjoy a clean installation, so let's pin-point the important steps to do so.

Gary

Gary Pope
m: 0408994799
An Accredited Partner- Consultant (VIC. Aust)
http://www.alchester.com.au/reckon-ac...
"Working with Accountants/Bookkeepers PPs/APs, as an
independent IT Professional and retired FCPA Accountant"

gazza73

Andrew

I can defend the methodology. Think about the number of users who click on the install, without reading the manual for a moment, Or people who allow auto-updates of all manner that hit their system without seeking clarification from IT staff about whether it is relevant or prudent for them to do so 'at that instance in time'. (ie: without thinking of the consequences)

What I'm keen to point out, is that there are sometimes processes that need to be performed, exported, printed, archived and so forth, using the old version before it is removed. Prompting a user to uninstall themselves, is one level of safety that at least permits the user to do their EOY, or last payroll, or saving of templates or whatever the particular program suggests is prudent to perform, before just automatically removing the prior version.

Gary

gazza73

You'd be right, Andrew, except this forum article clearly demonstrates that the steps on page 19 were not noticed. So, you have to ask if the user also read all the other pre-requisite steps to do. That's all I'm saying here. My research of problems raised on this forum in the past 6 months have a large percentage of 'didn't read the manual' consequences. I'm trying to mitigate that. by trying to highlight steps that community contributors stumble over.

Gary

Jan Leach

Pleased to see some discussion about the need for making the product user friendly. I have been a (frustrated) user of Quicken / Reckon for probably 15 years, and usually 2-3 times a year, I have a problem. Then I have to ring the support line and pay $5 a minute for someone to help me fix an issue that should not have occurred in the first place. Often it is due to a new version not reading all of the data from a file created in the previous version, or as happened recently, all of the data in both files for the last 6 months had vanished. The solution was to load a sample file, close the program, re-open and voila, the data was back. How would I have known to do that?? Certainly not from reading the help file! This is typical of the type of issue I am used to, on top of the annual upgrade dramas, and I object to having to pay to get glitches in the software resolved. In this day of iPhones, Windows 10 and all the software and applications that we all use daily, I don't understand why the developers of Reckon can't understand why instruction manuals are a thing of the past. No-one reads them anymore! People expect when you pay a lot of money for a software package that it will just sort itself out so you can get on with using the program. I have always thought that Quicken / Reckon could really benefit from some extensive user-testing and take on board the feedback. Jan

gazza73

Andrew

I don't think it's a win/win at all. I'm a partner for over 21 years (but working in indirect fields to the Reckon market). I recently got pro-active in all this forum to get back up to speed on customer queries, when being confronted by a potential need to integrate a large number of accounting systems to a CRM/project management suite of software, and became closely acquainted with the topics of this forum. Like other product forums, the outcome is very similar in terms of the types of queries, frustrations, and need for collaborative help.

My position is a little unique in that I'm a former Accountant and focussing more on integration of technologies/processes/techniques that help improve business profitability. But my main background in IT for 40 years permits me to take quite an open and unbiased view on IT matters. (ie: I have to independently deal with lots of other Accounting packages). Believe me, nobody wins from installation procedures that make a user experience less than expected. It is not something anybody can realistically charge for, and I doubt anybody does. The responses you see from 66 of the 310+ partners that exist in Australia/NZ, but provide their pro bono services on this forum to help improve user experiences with the product of their choosing is a good indication of how the community spirit rallies to improve things. It's certainly not a commercial thing, as you suggest.

Others are free to differ in their opinion of this.

Gary

gazza73

well.... at least they're reading parts of the manual via the good oil in the forum.... It's a start. I have hope!

Cheers, Gaz