Guest Taxed Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Just got off the Taxwise TV and they mentioned that this afternoon they have a very important announcement about updates and some issues that ATX users were concerned. They said around 3 to 4pm EST. I believe the president of CCH Small Business will also be on the TV! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 The program is already posted on the ATX TV site. Apologies and promises to stay the course but nothing much beyond that. Mentioned that half a million returns have already been filed through ATX. Mr Gramlich looked like I do when I have had just a little too much coffee - a bit jittery. Tells me they truly are working hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaB Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Well, I had no idea there was an ATX TV! What would I do without you people? Not watch ATX, TV for one thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Really? Ben and Stephanie are some of the best entertainment on the net! Well, that might be a stretch - but always informative and well prepared. I TRY to tune in everyday but with all the other time consuming things on my plate, it has been difficult at best this year - a year that we SHOULD be tuning in all the more. But with the TV and the Blog and the email alerts, ATX really is trying to keep us in the loop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Well, now isn't that interesting. I just finished watching it. Have to admit this is the first that I have ever heard of it either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry O Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 I have heard of it - - never had the TIME to actually watch it - -but this - - TIME is all I have. After reading the article in Accounting Today - -I wonder if that is the reason this particular non-informative show was put together. Thanks for the "apology" - -but when can we actually get to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee B Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 I watched the program and he looked like it was the very last thing he wanted to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxguy057 Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Was going to watch on my iPad but apparently does work on Mac OS... Guess I wait til tmrw bc I'm brain drained for all the BS with the slow process of returns today!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kea Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Perhaps it required Flash? IPads & iPhones refuse to use Flash. Won't run on some Andriod devises, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReadingEA Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Nice try CCH. Keep the spin machine turning. Tell everyone again how lucky they are to have such great "new" products to help make their lives easier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Payne CPA Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 The program is already posted on the ATX TV site. Apologies and promises to stay the course but nothing much beyond that. Mentioned that half a million returns have already been filed through ATX. Mr Gramlich looked like I do when I have had just a little too much coffee - a bit jittery. Tells me they truly are working hard. I admitted much in my last post to the "official" ATX Community Board, after a bit scathing (but not grammatically offensive) report on the program in response to Marie Jung's comments in the Accounting Today article yesterday. In response to that, I can no longer post to their board, despite being a 10-year user of their software (Total Tax Office) and not YET having bailed out to other software this year. Yet I notice many other scathing posts to their board, including posts with the subjects: - '12.6 is a joke!!!!' - 'Tech is still Hanging Up on Me' - 'Memory usage after 12.6 update' (it's high) - 'Software takes FOREVER to open' - 'Switching to new software' - 'Refund Process?' - '12.6 did not fix any of the opening or printing speed issues, ATX...' - 'Nothing has changed for me!' - 'REMINDER: REQUEST ATX REFUND BY FEB 28' - 'Updated and now I get CCHFS Tax Prep Software has stopped working...' - 'Has anyone been fired yet?' - 'Unable to send an efile... can create, but does not show in efile...' Those just a sampling of over 140 separate threads created today, apparently all AFTER the 12.6 update. But I cannot post at all, thanks to my post of yesterday. Oh, well - I'm not alone. A post that appeared this morning, titled something like 'Class Action Lawsuit, Anyone?' has now been deleted, probably by ATX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxguy057 Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Perhaps it required Flash? IPads & iPhones refuse to use Flash. Won't run on some Andriod devises, either. oh! gotcha!! I wish the would actually make a version of the program for Mac... Such a better operating system in my opinion!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 I admitted much in my last post to the "official" ATX Community Board, after a bit scathing (but not grammatically offensive) report on the program in response to Marie Jung's comments in the Accounting Today article yesterday. In response to that, I can no longer post to their board, despite being a 10-year user of their software (Total Tax Office) and not YET having bailed out to other software this year. Yet I notice many other scathing posts to their board, including posts with the subjects: - '12.6 is a joke!!!!' - 'Tech is still Hanging Up on Me' - 'Memory usage after 12.6 update' (it's high) - 'Software takes FOREVER to open' - 'Switching to new software' - 'Refund Process?' - '12.6 did not fix any of the opening or printing speed issues, ATX...' - 'Nothing has changed for me!' - 'REMINDER: REQUEST ATX REFUND BY FEB 28' - 'Updated and now I get CCHFS Tax Prep Software has stopped working...' - 'Has anyone been fired yet?' - 'Unable to send an efile... can create, but does not show in efile...' Those just a sampling of over 140 separate threads created today, apparently all AFTER the 12.6 update. But I cannot post at all, thanks to my post of yesterday. Oh, well - I'm not alone. A post that appeared this morning, titled something like 'Class Action Lawsuit, Anyone?' has now been deleted, probably by ATX. Danny, I was the OP in the thread entitled "Memory usage after 12.6 update". I wouldn't exactly call it a scathing post. I posted it because lots of people over on the official site are talking about the program being really slow and some of them only have 1 or 2 GB of RAM. The only part of this that should be offensive to CCH is the last sentence about being a beta tester for this year's program. I too was a long time poster on the official site, but I never went back there after the board was abruptly shut down in April 2007, so it looks like I'm new with only 100 or so postings. Here is the post you say is so offensive: About my computer - 1 yr old, Win 7 64-bit, i7 processor at 3.4 Ghz, 12GB ram. ATX installed as standalone. After installing update 12.6, I opened ATX and it seems to be operating normally. I opened one of my test returns, a fairly basic one with 1 w-2, 1 entry on sch b, sch c with one line for sales, and a couple of expenses entered, related SE. Form 4562 is present with 2 assets entered. This could be a return that lots of us see in our practice, but this test return has minimal entries. A look at the task manager shows CPA usage ~ 14% and my physical memory started in the mid 20% range and continued to tick upward like a clock ticking seconds off. It leveled off around 53% after the return sat idle. A look at the processes showed ATX using 411,000K of memory. Now with internet running only on this page while I type, physical memory is at 66%, ATX process is 352,000K memory. No wonder some of you with lower RAM and processor speeds are having lots of problems. I simply cannot imagine what this program will take to run with some of the larger and more complex returns open on it. Of course, none of those are in for me to check. I could keep playing with some dummy returns, but what a waste of time, still beta testing this program for them. Danny, if I may ask, what was your user name on the official board? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needmoreupdate Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Sound like the program need 6 gigs of ram at least...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Payne CPA Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 Danny, I was the OP in the thread entitled "Memory usage after 12.6 update". I wouldn't exactly call it a scathing post. I posted it because lots of people over on the official site are talking about the program being really slow and some of them only have 1 or 2 GB of RAM. The only part of this that should be offensive to CCH is the last sentence about being a beta tester for this year's program. I too was a long time poster on the official site, but I never went back there after the board was abruptly shut down in April 2007, so it looks like I'm new with only 100 or so postings. Here is the post you say is so offensive: About my computer - 1 yr old, Win 7 64-bit, i7 processor at 3.4 Ghz, 12GB ram. ATX installed as standalone. After installing update 12.6, I opened ATX and it seems to be operating normally. I opened one of my test returns, a fairly basic one with 1 w-2, 1 entry on sch b, sch c with one line for sales, and a couple of expenses entered, related SE. Form 4562 is present with 2 assets entered. This could be a return that lots of us see in our practice, but this test return has minimal entries. A look at the task manager shows CPA usage ~ 14% and my physical memory started in the mid 20% range and continued to tick upward like a clock ticking seconds off. It leveled off around 53% after the return sat idle. A look at the processes showed ATX using 411,000K of memory. Now with internet running only on this page while I type, physical memory is at 66%, ATX process is 352,000K memory. No wonder some of you with lower RAM and processor speeds are having lots of problems. I simply cannot imagine what this program will take to run with some of the larger and more complex returns open on it. Of course, none of those are in for me to check. I could keep playing with some dummy returns, but what a waste of time, still beta testing this program for them. Danny, if I may ask, what was your user name on the official board Did not mean to accuse anyone of anything, but rather just to let folks know that, if they are having problems, there's LOTS of company. My name on the other board is Danny. I definitely understand why CCH removed my privileges - but my frustrations just finally reached a boiling point. My computer has 8 GB of ram and is also Windows 7, 64 bit; and the ATX 2012 program still runs very slowly, with lags between entries into different fields. I actually got a return completed yesterday, but have not yet delivered it or e-filed. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, since many report total inability to do anything. I did have major printing problems, but found that if I ended the printing process (had to kill the entire program thru task manager), then restarted ATX & reopened the return, printing was (temporarily) fast again. If you want me to, I'd be happy to repost the message that got me banned here - but it's probably just as easy for you to see it on the other board. Again, my frustrations just reached a boiling point! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 5, 2013 Report Share Posted February 5, 2013 I found your posts and thought the one with all of the "truths" listed was great. Posts by some others over there are much worse. Hard to believe you'd be banned and not those others. I posted one today about the total lack of response from the techs today. Did you see the one about them all being put in a "cone of silence"? Another later one was an invitation to the programmers, techs, pres of CCH to watch the program work in the real world. Why haven't those posters been banned. Maybe that's just a matter of time with me included. It looks like several of the threads about refunds and class action lawsuits have been removed now. Sorry, I did take your post above the wrong way. All better now. I'm still having issues including a new one after running today's update. I'm still on the fence about switching to Drake. I could make it work, and I don't think the extra time it might take being extra careful with input in an unfamiliar program would be any more than some ATX users are facing with the slowness of rollover, file access and printing. I'm more worried about how long it would take to get my money back from CCH at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 For what it's worth, I haven't found the Drake switchover to be problematic at all. I downloaded Drake Friday morning and began preparing returns within less than an hour. I found the dreaded switch from a forms-based entry method to the Drake screens to be a non-issue. Disclaimer - my volume is very low and I won't be getting into my more complex returns for a couple of weeks. Of course by then I will have enjoyed the benefit of learning to navigate around the program and am making money while learning. My decision to switch was partly driven by the point you made in your last paragraph. I believe the time I've spent thus far working through the changeover was equal to or less than the time I would likely have spent trying to coax ATX into working, period. At least I knew the time spent was productive, as I'm working with a trusted vendor and a stable program that isn't likely to freeze or crash in the middle of an important task. That's a critical consideration at this point in the tax season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joanmcq Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 I saw someone over there that was running with 512 MB RAM ( of course complaining about slowness). I'm surprised their computer didn't completely blow! I'm also surprised some of the posters over there can even turn on a computer, much less do a tax return. Some of the questions are just scary, in knowledge and the ability to compose a sentence. So welcome Danny! This is the first year I've gone back 'over there' since we were shut out in 2007 or so. And congregated over here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 Joan, I wondered about that poster with only 512 ram also. John, thank you for sharing your thoughts about Drake and your experience using it so far. My workflow is a lot like yours with having some easy ones coming in this week and next that would allow me to become comfortable with the program before tackling more complex returns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 I decided to take a low-impact approach, and haven't seen anything yet which would make me regret this decision. (Of course tax season isn't over yet) I did have the added advantage of taking the last few days off, part of which I've spent looking at Drake training videos. I have a pretty good idea of what has come into my office while I was away, and I feel confident that I'm ready to tackle all of them. And as I said, those which I completed before leaving were a breeze. Seems like time spent generating revenue is a lot more productive than trying to decipher all the complexities of a program that is clearly not ready for its intended use. I see that some people are doing fine and they say they are having no problems. But there are just too many stories of slow printing, wierd procedures, instability, crashes, etc to suit me. Some of the work-arounds that I've seen suggested make me very uncomfortable. I'm just not interested in risking being one of the guinea pigs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Payne CPA Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 To be fair with ATX, yesterday I emailed ATX Support to request reinstatement after being banned, and this morning I find that the "Post" button has been restored for me. But thanks to ATXaholics (I don't know your name) and Hunter for making me feel welcome here. As frustrating as this has been this year, I'm thinking of opening up my computer & seeing if I can install another 8 GB of ram on top of the 8 GB already there, just to see if it will help with speed and stability. At this point, I'm going to try to stay the course for the 2012 season. I've used the Payroll 2012 with success (of course - it's on the old platform!), and the ATX 2012 program is marginally usable for me at this point. I do expect that they will improve the erratic printing problems with the next release. For 2013, however, I'm going to consider moving to ProSeries. I've got a number of clients on QuickBooks, anyway, and you'd think ProSeries would be designed to work well with QB since Intuit is the captain of both ships. Good luck with Drake, John. I inquired about their software a couple of years ago, and, to their credit, they've stayed in touch since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmars Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 Welcome to the club, a few years ago William banned me too for blasting tech support [i was so frustrated] but after a BBB complaint i got a call from a VP and after i bet him i was right and his programmer wrong i got reinstated and got the next year program for free. He was honorable and lived up to the bet we made. Anyway, i feel for those that get banned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Payne CPA Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 Thanks, Michael. You did well. Look forward to seeing you around the board. BTW, I went ahead & increased my ram from 8 to 16 GB as mentioned in my previous post. It did improve load times and the speed of moving around in returns - but the program itself is still very slow compared to prior years. After the ram upgrade, I rolled over 5 returns, then opened one of them - an S Corp return with probably 20 fixed assets. The first time, it opened in about a minute. After saving it, it subsequently opened in about 25 seconds. I obviously didn't NEED a ram upgrade, but I'm glad I did it, as cheap as ram is these days. The four 4 GB DDR3 DIMM modules cost about $97 total, including tax - on sale for $44/pair at Best Buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
needmoreupdate Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 Can you tell me how fast your computer is? i5? i7? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Payne CPA Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 AMD Phenom II x4 945 Processor, 3000 Mhz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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