Why is Quicken so slow to start?

Charlie2640

I already know some of the answer - I'm on a core i7, windows 10, 64GB or ram and SSDs. Quicken is a pig starting, and I'm being generous. So I fired up my trusty network analyzer, and I see Quicken going out to the internet.... every damn time.

Is there any way to stop this crap? I don't need or want my data on the cloud, and I thought I disabled it. What are you doing Intuit?

studpup

Many of the slow startup problems can be resolved by uninstalling/download/reinstalling Quicken subscription version, and running validate on your data file (file / file operations / validate). It's worth trying these two steps first. I assume Quicken Support would probably ask you to do the same. 

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7851545/faq-troubleshooting-101-installation-and-data-file-problems-quicken-for-windows

To block quicken from accessing the Internet, you can create a firewall rule (assuming you're running Windows Defender). Quicken will pop up with a login screen each time you start it, but you can cancel it. You won't be able to download from banks, get quotes, and I assume after a while your subscription can't be verified and you'll get a nag screen.
 
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-firewall/create-an-outbound-program-or-service-rule and use it to add an OutBound Rule, for Program, this program path C:\Program Files (x86)\Quicken\qw.exe, Block the Connection.

Charlie2640

I'll try it thank you

Jerry_

I am noticing the slow startup. I just switched to an AIO Computer having a core i7, windows 10 Home (2004), 16GB of ram and a 256 GB SSD. The startup takes around a minute and a half to finally show my Home View.

My old System had 8GB of ram, and a 512GB Hard Drive. The startup on it took around 30 seconds.

Jerry_

UPDATE:
1. I did a Validate and Super Validate on my regular file. No problems/errors found.
2. I created a new empty file; specifying not to sync to the Web nor Cloud.. No difference in the Quicken Startup. Still takes around a minute and a half to show the "Let's get started" Screen.

Jerry_

Ah, a final UPDATE:
I took Charlie2640's advise. I uninstalled Quicken, want to my Account, and downloaded Quicken. I then restarted Windows. I started Quicken, and VIOLIA, my Home View appeared about after 5 seconds.

Charlie2640, did this procedure work for you?

Charlie2640

> @Studpup said:

<snip>
> To block quicken from accessing the Internet, you can create a firewall rule (assuming you're running Windows Defender). Quicken will pop up with a login screen each time you start it, but you can cancel it. You won't be able to download from banks, get quotes, and I assume after a while your subscription can't be verified and you'll get a nag screen.
>  
> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-firewall/create-an-outbound-program-or-service-rule and use it to add an OutBound Rule, for Program, this program path C:\Program Files (x86)\Quicken\qw.exe, Block the Connection.
</snip>

I'm reading up on firewall operations now. What I find interesting is that Quicken has 0 entries in my allowed applications in my Firewall. Maybe Intuit names it's access s/w something else?

I'll try the suggestions. Stay tuned.

cg

studpup

Quicken only creates outbound connections so doesn't need to be listed in your allowed applications (Windows by default allows all outbound connections).

You CAN block quicken (or any application) from using the internet, but I don't see why you'd want to. You won't get program updates, bank downloads, quotes, or license vertification (then eventually it'll time out and show its infamous nag screen). There might be a different approach if there's a problem you're trying to solve. You can use Edit/Preference/Mobile and Web to turn off Cloud sync instead of blocking the entire application through the firewall.

Charlie2640

As I have just learned but thanks for the comment. Completely off topic, but there it feels just wrong to have ALL outgoing connections allowed, but I'm in the wrong forum .

Charlie2640

> @Jerry_ said:
> Ah, a final UPDATE:
> I took Charlie2640's advise. I uninstalled Quicken, want to my Account, and downloaded Quicken. I then restarted Windows. I started Quicken, and VIOLIA, my Home View appeared about after 5 seconds.
>
> Charlie2640, did this procedure work for you?

I finally got around to doing this.... Step 1 was to repair / validate the existing data file. Did that okay, but performance still slow. Uninstalled then reinstalled the latest Quicken Home, business & Rental Property version. It still takes Quicken a full 20 seconds to load my financial file. On this system, I find this hard to believe considering it's getting worse. Possibly code creep in the application.

Additional data:
- some accounts have transactions as far back as 2003;
- my quicken file is ust under 49MB;
- do hidden but not closed accounts impact startup performance?
- do closed accounts but not deleted impact startup performance?

I'll do some additional testing on the file like culling transactions prior to 2010 and see if that helps. I'll post an update.

Jerry, how far back does your data go?

Greg_the_Geek

What is the full path to the folder that contains your Quicken data file on the hard drive? Are you using OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Backup? Are you running OSU on startup?

Charlie2640

Valid question - the file is in my documents folder on an extremely fast NVME SSD. Loading 58MB should take less than 50 mSec in pure read operations.

Watching the task monitor, I see a burst of CPU (quicken starting up) then a sustained 10% or so. I see the read in the SSD but then nothing. I do see a burst of network traffic for about 5 seconds...

Jerry_

Charlie2640, my data goes back to the start of 2001. The size is 95,913 KB.

Greg_the_Geek

Are you using OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Backup? Are you running OSU on startup?

Chris_QPW

Are any of you setting your startup location to the Bills tab?
The reason I ask is because there is an update in staged release mode right now and they mention fixing a problem with slow startup in this case:
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7890404/windows-r32-xx-release

Charlie2640

standard home page in my case. Well, standard in that quicken picked it for some reason. Contains 3 report pages: Expenses, Income vs. Expense and Net Worth.

Interesting. Removed all of the reports and shaved 5 seconds off the startup time.

Chris_QPW

Charlie2640 said:

Interesting. Removed all of the reports and shaved 5 seconds off the startup time.

There are definitely some reports that take longer to read in the data and create the graphs and such.  For instance long ago I stopped having my net worth graph (which because it has so many years of data to go through for me, it is one of the slowest things to bring up on my data file) on the Home view that I normally have it come up on (I still have it on another Home tab view).

Charlie2640 said:

standard home page in my case. Well, standard in that quicken picked it for some reason.

Quicken should start up on the Home tab "view" that you were in when you closed Quicken.

Chris_QPW

BTW another performance tip.  When you do something like One Step Update it is constantly refreshing windows that are visible.  So if you have a windows/view in the background like the net worth report, it will be constantly refreshed during the One Step Update and slow things down.  So it matters what View/Window you are on when you do One Step Update.

Charlie2640

Yeah, I'm okay with that, because Quicken is going out and chatting with banks, etc. I understand that delay. A silly long startup to get to my register, nah, that's something that should not be.

Honestly, in all my decades of using Quicken, I have never customized my initial page - just wasn't on my todo list (developers - take note). I'll fool around with the settings and see what happens.