Quicken writes 1MB/Sec to disk when mouse pointer traverses Banking register

bLouChip

It's true. Launch Windows 10/11 Resource Monitor; select the Disk Activity view and graphic; put the RM window side by side with a running Quicken window; in Qkn select a banking check register view; in that view top right under Actions, select 'Use One-line display'; now just mouse over/traverse lines in the register and watch the RM Disk graphic explode to show a disk write activity rate of up to 1 MegaBytes/Second ! You don't have to click a thing at this point, just move the mouse pointer over lines in the register.

If you have an SSD, this method is perhaps the only way to notice the BUG, since there are usually no disk activity LEDs or sound, and of course Quicken should not cause this behavior. What does it have to WRITE about ?

If you have a spinning/mechanical HD, then you likely hear the armature buzzing frantically as it moves millions of times over the spinning disks, and if you have a HD activity LED, its likely on solid.

Either way, this type of stupid disk activity will wear things out FAST ! SSDs have a write limit, albeit very very high limit, its there. And mechanical HDs, well, its mechanical, so good luck.

This BUG has been around for at least 2 years, I first reported it in 2020. Quick support just ignores it. Out of sight, out of mind.

bLouChip

update: I've submitted "Report a Problem..." action to Quicken. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, this is interesting... https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/hardware/ssd-lifespan-how-long-will-your-ssd-work/

bLouChip

see also, same problem reported 2 years ago... https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7880898/extremely-high-disk-access-when-moving-mouse/p1

Rocket J Squirrel

bLouChip said:

This BUG has been around for at least 2 years, I first reported it in 2020. Quick support just ignores it.

This is such a bizarre issue that I doubt anyone at Quicken has any idea why it occurs or how to fix it. But if you're sincerely concerned about drive life, you already know the workaround is to use 2-line registers.

In Quicken terms, this is a baby bug. I have socks older than this bug.

bLouChip

RJS, lol I agree. However, a) I despise 2 line register view when I know 1 line is available, and b) sometimes I just like poking the bear Being a retired software developer, this is just one of those bugs that drives me nuts and I would think several at Quicken would be bothered the same and want to fix this. We'll see. I'll call them later this week to follow up and go from there. In the meantime, I'm waiting for the first person to write that they can't recreate it

BK

bLouChip said:

In the meantime, I'm waiting for the first person to write that they can't recreate it

I was not going to bother with this.  But just for kicks I tried it multiple times and I see no unusual change in my disk activity.  I can't recreate this.

Rocket J Squirrel

BK said:

bLouChip said:

In the meantime, I'm waiting for the first person to write that they can't recreate it

I was not going to bother with this.  But just for kicks I tried it multiple times and I see no unusual change in my disk activity.  I can't recreate this.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is dependent on each machine's hardware and/or drivers. I can reproduce it, but fortunately, I have always preferred 2-line registers.

Chris_QPW

Quicken has lots of these kinds of bugs ranging from, a nuisance, to trashing your data that the developer have no idea how to reproduce (my guess) and as such there isn't any way that they will be able to fix it.
One that comes to mind is the missing budgets.

The ones that really bug me though are the ones I know are simple to fix, but are never changed even after years and years of them being reported.

bLouChip

Those are all good points. I'm reproducing this bug on 2 machines; Lenovo T430 cica 2013 w Win 8.1 and mechanical HD, and 2021 Lenovo Flex 5 w Win 11 and SSD. In both cases running Quicken Home, Business, Rental subscription, latest version. Even though my data file dates to an origin 25 years ago, I've recreated the bug with a new data file and checking account.

Just wondering... to what degree does a popular software product have to silently destroy a computer before the company notices it and rectifies the issue ?

bLouChip

update: I'm on the phone with Quicken support right now and he has recreated the bug on his computer. Initially he failed to recreate because the Quicken window did not have the UI focus, but once it did he recreates the bug at 3MB/sec disk write activity. So perhaps this is getting some traction now with Quicken Support, he agrees this is a serious bug.

Rocket J Squirrel

@bLouChip make sure to get a case number.

bLouChip

I got one. thanks. He said to give them a week then call back for a follow up.

bLouChip

update: ticket #9710142 was opened last week after Quicken Support rep was able to reliably reproduce this problem. I called today to inquire of progress and next level support wrote in the ticket within the past week that they could not reproduce the problem; shocking. The support rep today chats with me that he cannot reproduce the problem either. Net: this issue is not going to get fixed. Sad.

Rocket J Squirrel

What a bummer. One or two reps can't reproduce it so it's rejected. This is true of many Quicken bugs; some are easily reproduced and others are not. This one is absolutely real (have I ever lied to you before?) but "support" refuses to acknowledge it.

Chris_QPW

Rocket J Squirrel said:

What a bummer. One or two reps can't reproduce it so it's rejected. This is true of many Quicken bugs; some are easily reproduced and others are not. This one is absolutely real (have I ever lied to you before?) but "support" refuses to acknowledge it.

I don't think it is a case of them not acknowledging it.  It is more like if they can't reproduce it easily they won't work on it.  The attitude is that they have way too much to do to waste time on something they can't find.

In truth problems like this are highly dependent on the user's environment and without access to that environment to debug in, it is extremely hard to find such problems.

Rocket J Squirrel

At least 2 Quicken staffers have reproduced this problem. Given that it's potentially destructive to hardware, it should be researched. Don't tell them, but the easy fix would be to remove the 1-line register option.

Chris_QPW

BTW for what it is worth I can also reproduce this bug.

Chris_QPW

In fact I might be giving them too much of the "benefit of doubt".  It could very well be that the developer that got assigned the problem, didn't understand it, and as such reported it as non reproducible.

Chris_QPW

The only "saving grace" about this problem is that even though I do use 1-line mode in my accounts I don't wave my cursor over my registers very often, so the impact on me at least is pretty small.