Checks and balances: balance your checkbook and manage your finances with these personal finance managers - evaluations of five programs - includes related articles on Internet banking, summaries of products and key terms - Software Review - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, March, 1997 by Mike Hogan

But we found that its interface was thoughtfully designed to speed users through bill paying, account reconciliation, and more common reporting topics, including "Where the Money Goes" or "Income vs. Spending." Instead of navigating through menus or between multiple windows, Money 97 anticipates your needs and assembles the necessary program tools on split screens packed with information and action buttons. For example, Money 97 puts your checkbook register and a check on a single screen available from the Account Register button on its main screen. Fill in the check fields just as you would on one of your paper checks.

Extensive use of the right mouse button covers most options such as zooming in on a chart, creating new regularly recurring transactions, or jumping to account category or other lists. For example, the Payment Calendar is a list of upcoming payments with running balances for the accounts they're drawn against; a multipage desk calendar showing activity on different dates; and a graph of the impact scheduled transactions will have on your account balances. Wizards guided us through such thorny activities as online account setup and balancing our checkbook and new retirement account. But most Money 97 changes are money-management enhancements--better AutoFill, more calculators, and elaborate date-field calendars--or under-the-hood program improvements designed to speed you on your way.

Money 97 doesn't include a Web browser, but if you use Netscape Navigator or Microsoft's own Internet Explorer 3.0, a single mouse click will take you to Microsoft's MoneyZone, a custom Web site where you'll find product support and on-line banking, financial management, and other information sites. You also can hook up with your bank's Web site and download free stock and mutual fund quotes. Money 97 is a strong financial manager, but it's still playing catchup with Quicken.

BEST BUY

Quicken Deluxe 7 for Macintosh

RATING: ****

MAC

If you want to balance your checkbooks and pay your bills on your Mac, Quicken Deluxe for the Mac has always been your best choice. Quicken for Mac sports a new interface that organizes itself the way you think about your finances. Quicken for Mac, for example, lets you customize each set of task icons for the five major areas of Banking, Investing, Planning, Assets/Debt, and Reporting, but it lacks folder tabs for quick navigation among open windows.

In effect, you can have five different desktops, each of which has a different set of open windows. For example, keep your monthly transaction list and online payee list and favorite checkbook register open on your Banking desktop and your portfolio list and favorite investment register open on your Investing desktop.

Intuit has beefed up Quicken for Mac's program help, product usage tips, and Quicken wizards for setting up new accounts, categories, and other transactions. The company also has added several usability enhancements to speed data entry, track investments, and create and print reports and graphs.