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Contemplating Moving from Quicken Windows to Quicken Mac

Ronin

I am contemplating migrating from Windows to Mac, but for years have considered moving from Q-WIN to Q-MAC to be too significant of a step backwards and I didn't want to bother running Windows in a VM just to run Q-WIN on a Mac, so I've remained on Windows so far.

As time has passed, my thinking has evolved to the point where now I'm fairly convinced Q-MAC has the functionality that matters to me and on top of that perhaps a growing advantage -- stability. Unless I'm misinformed, I take it the current version of Q-MAC that supports the M1 chip is a fairly modern app built on relatively new code/tools, whereas Q-WIN is built on multiple decades-old layers of legacy code that seems to make basic operations (opening files, checking for updates, running One-Step updates) unreliable and unpredictable. Overall it seems Q-WIN has become less stable with time, making me think Q-MAC may actually be the better solution for me at this point.

Looking for any perspective one might have to share on this.

Thanks!

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Chris_QPW

I think that you might actually get a better response by posting this in a Mac category since that is where the people that have actually done this will mostly be looking these days.

But your assessment on the code bases seems about right. Of course Quicken Mac code isn't brand new either. It started in 2007, but has had a couple fairly major rewrites since then was support waned and came back and Apple forced library and such changes.

Note as for stability goes it really depends on what isn't stable for you in Quicken Windows. Nothing is going to make Express Web Connect (called Quicken Connect in Quicken Mac) stable for instance since the whole system isn't "stable".

EDIT I see you did post this in a Mac thread, so that side covered.

Ronin

Thanks for your thoughts @Chris_QPW .

As far as stability issues with Q-WIN, the things I'm seeing appear to go beyond any of the Web (or other) connect tools/functionality. Simply opening the app sometimes takes a long time with bouts of partial screens appearing and then not. Or simply going to the menu to say Check for Updates and it spins its wheels for a while and then comes back with "Unknown Error." It connects just fine for updating accounts so its not a connectivity issue that I can see. Sometimes the app appears closed, but won't relaunch, only to open Task Manager and find remnants of the app still running.

I keep my PC updated and with very few other apps on it so its a "clean" machine so to speak. No other apps on my machine experience this "buggyness." Very frustrating and confidence destroying of the Q-WIN experience.

Chris_QPW

Yes, @Ronin that does sound like the kind of problems that going to Quicken Mac might fix.

Please note though that I suggest that with Quicken Windows you are real sure you don't have any kind of conflict with other programs trying to get at the Quicken data file which has been known to cause such problems. This can come from "cloud sync" services trying to sync the data file (OneDrive, Dropbox, ...) or anti-virus programs scanning the data file or config files of Quicken, or a backup program.

Ronin

Thanks for pointing out ideas for other sources of conflicts. The only thing I can think of impacting me would be my internet security suite (Bit Defender). I manually excluded the Quicken app folder as well as the data folder locations from its purview (supposedly).

Even after making that change and rebooting I launched Quicken without issue this morning but then tonight I attempted to check for updates and Windows cam back saying Quicken was unresponsive and then I got the "Unknown Error" again. This all happened after watching it visually try and do something but to no avail.

How is one to know whether any of your suggested conflicts are present? Is there any type of useful error logging by Quicken?

Chris_QPW

Unfortunately when it comes to performance problems and such conflicts it is really just trial and error. There really isn't any way to know what is causing the problem except that if you find making a change fixes it.

Others might have other things you might try. But that is about if that I can think of other than say using the QCleanUI procedure to remove and then reinstall Quicken, or maybe Validate and Repair.
Using QcleanUI to Fix Installation Issues with Quicken for Windows

Ronin

OK thanks!

skeleton567

Ronin, I do not have any current knowledge of MAC software. As a software developer I did experiment a bit with Apple back in the 70's, but early on decided to go with the Windows environment where I spent the rest of my career, and even now am entirely a Windows person. Early on I was in the mainframe development area, including IBM, Dec/Vax, and Burroughs/Unisys. Never in those environments did we do anything with Apple/Mac. I did have an Apple personal system for a couple years, but I guess I've always considered Apple/Mac as a one-off, but I thought/think the same as most of the current open source stuff.

What I will says is that whatever you do, keep your options open and be sure you can backtrack, even years from now. Just today I have been working with my personal financial data from 1989-1991 making adjustments to how I handled things at that point. What I have found is that my historical data is much more important to me than my checking and credit card this year.

One other thing I can say is that while I worked with many folks in the mainframe and Windows environments, never in 42 years did I work with anyone involved in Apple/Mac systems. I guess to me, that has been significant.