Abby Normal

Update 3:23PM: Reddit user Jluvs2dive reports that two employees at their firm received an email from a Wolters Kluwer address that includes a malicious link. The email was reportedly sent from a user named "Tammy" with a Wolters Kluwer email address. Could be totally unrelated... or not.

https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/the-wolters-kluwer-cch-outage-what-happened

We used to have spreadsheets but then realized the ATX Return Manager was essentially a spreadsheet so we've incorporated columns to handle most of our work-in-progress tracking. It needs refinement now that we have 4 preparers but it's adequate. For fiscal year due date tracking I just have a sticky note (StikyNot.exe) on one of my monitors. We could use some improvement on due date tracking.

ATX is poor at communicating. They tell me they make too many changes to communicate all of them. They already have a release notes page. Just have some low level person post as many updates as they can every day. I spend half of tax season discovering new features, sometimes by accident, and I wonder what else is there that I've missed.

"Wardriving" is not as easy as it was 10 or 20 years ago, because back then no one changed the modem or router logins, and modem/router manufacturers shipped them with logins of admin and blank password. The last router I bought for home came with a supposedly unique password. The best thing you can/should do is change both the login name and password on your modem and your router, and the passwords should be long and complex. While you can have bluetooth technology on your computer, I wouldn't recommend it because it's just another access point to your network, making you less secure. You use wifi tech to connect to a wireless network, which pretty much every device has these days.

When windows runs out of RAM it uses a file on the drive to act as memory. It works well as long as your drive is fast. And, windows is supposed to be smart about it by putting less important things on the drive. But it's always better if everything can stay in memory. How much better? Maybe not enough to matter.

If you don't want to go to 10, you can get 8.1 for 10 bucks. At least, that's what my IT guy charged me on new build recently. I've been on 8.1 for over 6 years with zero problems. Support for 8.1 ends 1/10/2023. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet

If you only have 4GB of RAM, windows is using the Page File a lot. The Page (or Paging) File is space on your drive that Windows uses when it runs out of memory. Wi-fi is less secure and much slower than a wired network. I don't like combo modem/router devices because it's nice to be able to replace one or the other, but they work and if you're renting it, that doesn't matter.

I heard it was going to be clicking their tongue while moving their head slowly from side to side, followed by a sigh.

I put 16GB in my computer in 2012. Now, with just email and browser programs open, it's using 32% of that. Normally (when I'm working and not screwing around on this forum), it runs about 50%. So, if I had gone with 8GB it would not have been enough.

Seconded. Did this at work and at home. The home computer was almost unusable. Now it's runs well. Work computer wasn't usable for 20 minutes after a cold start and frequently bogged down for 20-30 seconds during the day. Now it's better than new even at 6-1/2 years old.

I don't like to do any returns before early February, unless they're really simple. We did one about 2/1 this year and right after we transmitted, they got a 1099 in the mail that they didn't realize they'd be getting and we had to amend. For businesses we'll do the federal and and make a list of state returns to be efiled later. Usually no reason to rush entity returns anyway. But if you're doing super low-end returns for folks desperate for their refunds, I can see how your business would suffer for not having states ready to go.

The individual mandate still exists BUT the penalty is set to zero for 2019, so there's no penalty for not having minimum coverage.

SSDs last as long if not longer than HDs these days and it's the single biggest speed improvement you can make in a computer. HDs were always the bottleneck in processing.

Copying files over a cable between computers would take forever. The last time I tried it was with windows 95 or 98 and it was so slow, I ended up burning CDs to move files. Can you have the old drive temporarily installed in the new computer as a second drive and copy drive to drive? That's probably the fastest transfer. If not, using flash drives or external USB drives (especially an SSD) would be your best option. Here's ATX's video on transferring just your ATX databases: https://support.cch.com/sfs/solution/000048812

I don't think I've ever heard you complain. You seem quite laid-back to me.

No, you run it once and you're done. It tweaks some setting in windows somewhere. But the 18.3 update disabled LAA for ATX 2018, and I only learned about it accidentally on the official forum from a fellow user who had been told this by support. So I'll be checking LAA after every update from now on. And, yes, I did notice ATX being sluggish after LAA was disabled. I was worried ATX had serious problems or that my computer might be ailing, but all was good after re-enabling. Speaking of updates, it's sure been nice these past two years only having 3 updates. Really, it's only 2 updates because x.0 that comes out in the fall is obviously a preliminary release, so x.1 to me is the real release and I usually wait for x.1 before I even install. I don't use the payroll function. Hmmm, I need to suggest to ATX to split off the payroll as a separate product, so that those of us who don't use it, aren't paying for it.

Did the bank actually refuse to deposit the check? Can you e-deposit the check?

I've suggested that ATX include a small number of support calls (6-10) in the base price, and then charge a fee for each additional call, to cut down on people who lean too heavily on support. And perhaps email support could be free. When I encounter an issue I can't resolve myself, I email support and move on to the next return. I've had them call me within 10 minutes of sending an email, and often within an hour or two. Caveat: I haven't needed support in over a year, so I don't know if this is still true. I don't understand people who constantly complain about things like ATX crashing during printing, but then balk when the solution/workaround is suggested to them to close ATX before a big print job, or to print to PDF only, because it "should work". I timed it and it took me 10 seconds to close/restart ATX. But, whatever, you do you.

I used Drake two programs ago. I switched from Drake to TaxWorks and was blown away how much more sophisticated TaxWorks was than Drake. Then TaxWorks went away and I switched to ATX and was blown away how much more complete and how much faster I could do returns than TaxWorks. ATX is better for people with above average computer skills and self-starters who can solve their own problems. ATX's biggest problem is memory usage, but the solution is simply to close ATX after every return, especially big ones, to clear out the memory. You can install, and I highly recommend it, Large Address Aware, a 3rd party utility that let's ATX work fine above the 1 GB memory limit that 32 bit programs suffer from. Instructions for LAA are attached. Large Address Aware Instructions.rtf

Pick up an older version of QuickBooks on ebay. One time price, unless you need payroll. Or go avant-garde with something like Wave or Xero.

If you buy a Dell (or any brand name computer) have your IT person wipe the hard drive and just install windows. That's the only way to get rid of all the crapware those computers come pre-installed with. We always just build our own computers.

Even complex clients who were always deep into AMT.