Thursday, July 27, 2006

A view of Ultrasoft Money

Mike Featherstone, who is a user of Ultrasoft Money, and has put in a few replies to postings on this blog, has provided an article for the Money FAQ Website, which I have placed on the site at FAQ Article 421.

This article is on Ultrasoft Money - a product I cannot use (due to the fact I have a Pocket PC device, and not a Palm device). However, it is a product that links into Microsoft Money in a similar way that the Microsoft Money for the Pocket PC software does.

I hope you find it useful.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Ultrasoft MoneyLink out in record time

Ultrasoft MoneyLink for Microsoft Windows 2007 is out today in record quick time. In previous years we've waited a few weeks for it, but it's out in a few days this year.

It is available from the Ultrasoft site, or from my MoneyLink Downloads site where all of the previous versions are also listed.

I don't think there are too many differences compared to last year, the standard functions are just what is needed to analyze and link to your Microsoft Money data.

You can find more information on UltraSoft MoneyLink at FAQ Article 30 on the http://moneymvps.org site.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

New Budget option (60% Solution)

Back in February, I mentioned The 60% Solution in a short article. Well, this is in the recently released US version of Money 2007.

It is called the 'Savings and Spending' budget in Money 2007.



If you don't know about this budgetary method, then basically it says that you should use 60% of your income on committed expenditure, and then divide up the rest into Irregular Expenses, Long-term saving/debt, retirement and 'fun' money.

I'll probably write some FAQ articles on the http://moneymvps.org site in future, but it's nice to see now.

It's not mandatory though - you can continue to use an existing budget mechanism (advanced or essential) if you like. Also, it is version 1 of the budget. There are some things I would have liked to see in it (for example, if you don't allocate all spending, then assign the remainder, for example, to 'long term savings/debt' or 'fun money'.

Friday, July 21, 2006

Microsoft Money 2007 is now available

Microsoft Money 2007 is now available in the US. I've updated the system requirements page (FAQ Article 407) and will be updating the rest of the site over the weekend.

One thing to note is that there is NO Microsoft Money for the Pocket PC (see FAQ Article 415).

The trial versions can be obtained through the Trial Download page.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Microsoft Money 2007 Box Shots

The box shots for Microsoft Money 2007 are now available. Larger ones can be found on the Money FAQ site through the marketing page.

Clicking on the images below should take you to the amazon site where you can pre-order them. According to Amazon, the products are released towards the end of the month, about 12 days away.

Microsoft Money Home and Business 2007


Microsoft Money Premium 2007


Microsoft Money Deluxe 2007

Thursday, July 13, 2006

No broadband. No service from ISP

Well, I had some updates to put to the Money FAQ site, but my broadband supplier (Plusnet) have decided to unilaterally migrate my line to another telco. They're unbundling the line from British Telecom (BT), although i must say I haven't had any issues with BT. Something called LLU (local loop unbundling). It's a nightmare.

The effect of this is that I've had no broadband since Saturday afternoon (8th July), when I was in the middle of updating the usage figures in the database behind the site.

Customer service from PlusNet has been appauling. No idea when it will be fixed. If it's not sorted out soon, my Media Center machine will not have any route to get the TV guide listing updates, and I'll loose the easy recording capability that that provides me. I'll have to look at a TV listings paper to find out what's on too!

I've just got an Xbox360, and have a free month of Xbox Live (Gold). That's being lost.

Perhaps I rely on technology too much.

Normal service should resume sometime..... i hope....