QuickBook and Windows Vista Compatibility

We run an older version of QuickBooks and the only version of QuickBooks that works on Windows Vista is QuickBooks 2007. We didn't really want to upgrade QuickBooks so I created a work around so that I can access QuickBooks 2003 while in Vista. Here's what I did:

1. Downloaded Virtual PC 2007 for free from here.

2. Booted to Vista and installed Virtual PC 2007

3. Setup a Windows 2000 Pro virtual machine

4. Setup Virtual machine on network

5. Installed QuickBooks on the virtual machine and connected to network data

6. Created shortcut on my desktop to my newly created virtual machine

That was it. Now when I want to use QuickBooks while in Vista, I open my virtual machine and there it is.

If anyone is interested here is a good article explaining why the previous versions do not work with Vista. It looks like QuickBooks is killing their brand with the slow performance of new products, forcing upgrades by not supporting older software, and by not taking steps years ago to get their product up to date. I guess they really should change their name to SlowBooks.

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You Know It's Time to Say Goodbye When...

Picture by Peter Kaminski.


1. They say, "You know, we just want it (referring to everything) to work and not have to call you to come out here again (implying everything must work forever - nevermind the upgrades)"

2. They say, "Our accountant has said we spent too much money on support last year." Even though they spent more the previous year, and appx 1/3 of what they spent in the year was because a previous computer guy installed illegal software. Even though when I compared what they spent to a competitor of theirs it was 4 times less - a competitor who by the way has a network that works pretty darn good because they listen to what I say. (They thought they shouldn't be compared).

3. They say, "We can't remember you saying we needed to get rid of Norton Internet Security, even though it was on the last invoice and I had told them at least 3 times."

4. They say, "It's (referring to everything) is not working when 1 out of 5 programs is not working.

5. They say, "It's a program we use everyday but we are not sure if it worked at all in the last year."

6. They do, "Use two other computer people for support in the last 3 or 4 years and end up coming back after they find out those guys suck"

7. They say, "We should be paying $40 per hour for computer support." When the worst company in town (that employs one of the guys in #6) charges $60 per hour.

8. They say, "You fix stuff and then we don't know if it works and we have to redo it." Even though I follow up after every service call and they say it's working great (good thing I take notes of date time and person I spoke to about how great the service was).

9. They have, a hateful attitude and blame instead of just stating there is a problem and they would like to get a better understanding.

10. They say, "If you ever want to work in this town again, you will do blah blah blah!"

That's when you know it's time to fire the client and say goodbye. By this point they've built up too much resentment and are refusing to look at facts.

Windows Visual or Windows Experience

I run Windows Vista in a dual boot with Windows XP. I was feeling mixed on whether or not I liked Windows Vista more or not and then I figured it out. I noticed when my computer was booting and I had 30 seconds to make a choice of Vista or XP I went through this thought process:

Do I have something to get done today? If so I went to XP

Do I have time to play around and deal with a bit more annoying things? If so I went to Vista


I was a bit surprised at my thoughts on this, but it's true Vista doesn't support everything I use and it is slower than XP. I think the names say it all, XP is for Experience and Vista is more of a visual thing. So, it comes down to, do you want to see pretty things or do you want to to have the experience of getting work done faster?

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AT&T Killed Cingular

AT&T bought Cingular and now our service doesn't work anymore. We always had great coverage at our home until Friday. Now, sometimes we can make calls out, and some calls get in, but most the time the calls are dropped and the signal fluctuates greatly. It's just gravy that our Cingular contract ends in 3 days. The only other option here is Alltel, and to be quite honest I would rather have Cingular. I spoke to tech support and they told me 3-5 days before it might work. That's not acceptable, I have kids, we do business on our phones, and we only use cell phones. We can't be down for more than 24 hours. So, in frustration I punished the Cingular logo above.

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