Why "Enter Quicken ID Password" suddenly starts popping up with strange behaviors

Maqune

Using Quicken Classic Deluxe R55.15 on HP Elitebook w/ Windows 10 Pro V.10.0.19045 Build 19045

After using Quicken for almost 2 years it suddenly started popping up a window in middle of screen, sometimes the window was just white with no place to enter a password, sometimes it was gray like this with black text in the center saying something like: "…getting things ready for you" (text was animated so it disappears when using Snipping Tool)

If I clicked the close "X" several times it would finally go away, but be replaced by:

If I closed that it would stay gone, but then I clicked on "Update Accounts" button just to see if Online Service was truly unavailable and got this:

There was no apparent "Allow" button, but when I tried to close window it jumped me to my web browser (Firefox) to a supposed Amazon site (where I "win a free phone" if I click on something). I immediately went back to Quicken and the "Enter Quicken ID Password" dialog box now contained the free phone add. I closed the pop-up, closed quicken and reopened. This started the cycle over again with some additional anomalies:

The card account info shown was accurate, but I opted to just ignore & close window as my wife said she followed up on this in the past and it prompted her to start a new credit card which screwed up our account. After closing this pop-up the "Enter Quicken ID Password" pop-up returned with a new offer:

I looked online for info and this website: (since I'm a newbie can't post a link so…here is address)

https://www.quicken.com/support/why-am-i-being-asked-sign-my-quicken-id-repeatedly-or-why-am-i-being-asked-activation-code

which suggested I download & install the latest update. After downloading the 1st time I got this pop-up saying "The version of Quicken installed on this computer is R1. The latest is R55.15":

Yet when I checked on About Quicken it was clearly R55.15:

It seems like something corrupt was going on, like some kind of trojan inserted itself into the Quicken pop-up dialogs.

When my wife called Quicken support the guy said it was a computer problem not a Quicken problem, then call abruptly ended without further conversation.

I tried clearing browser cache & history, then rebooting, but odd Quicken behavior continued.

I downloaded the "US Manual Patch Update" from here: (again…sorry I can't post links…)

https://www.quicken.com/support/update-and-patch-20182019-release-quicken-windows-subscription-product

After installing it I ran "File>Validate & Repair File…"

Now the Credit Card update pop-up still comes up, but other than that it looks like it's working again. I clicked on "Update Accounts" again and it updated everything - even the supposedly problematic credit card.

QUESTIONS:
- Were the "Enter Quicken ID Password" pop-ups legit Quicken dialogs?
- Does Quicken allow 3rd party advertisements inside their dialog boxes?
- If problem was with computer why did updating Quicken seem to fix it?

If this behavior is not from Quicken then it appears there is a vulnerability in the Quicken program itself.

If these pop-ups are legit Quicken pop-ups then Quicken needs a lot of work.

We used Quicken 2000 for probably 10 years or more and never needed customer service. We only updated because our old Windows XP computer was dying. This new subscription Quicken is much less intuitive and customer service hasn't been very helpful when we've needed it. Makes me want to go try something else…

[Edited - Removed Personal Information From Screenshot]

Rocket J Squirrel

That looks very wrong. The spaceman does not look like anything in Quicken and Quicken does not show 3rd-party ads. I suspect you have malware and need to perform the deepest level of virus scan that you can.

The "wait 10 minutes" is a real, but incorrect, error message. Rather than waiting 10 minutes, sign out of Quicken and back in again.

The "you have R1" is a normal bug that we all see.

Boatnmaniac

I agree with @Rocket J Squirrel that the spaceman is not anything from Quicken. Neither is the VPN message. A deep malware scan would be appropriate to promptly do.

Regarding the R1: When Quicken first releases a new version, they usually do it on a staged basis where they allow a certain number of downloads/installs to occur and then shut off the ability to download for a few days to see if there are any major issues reported. Later, if someone who had installed that staged release new version, does a version update check, they will get that message showing that version "R1" is installed. It's just an indication that the version that is installed is a staged release version. It is confusing and it should be corrected but this "R1" installed version issue has been around for a long time and still is not fixed so I'm not holding my breath.