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Abby Normal

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Posts posted by Abby Normal

  1. Most tax professionals do not possess the skills and abilities to build a computer. 

    I do possess the skills, but allow other professionals to custom build them for me.  3 year warranty, etc.  Work smarter not harder.

    I didn't build it. My IT guy did. He also helped pick out the parts.

    • Like 1
  2. That sounds like way too much money to me.  Of course, we don't know what you have now and what your IT guy proposes to build for you.  Too Much Money for a desktop.

    Really? Just the parts for my computer were $1,200 back in 2012. Then I paid my IT guy $300 to build it.

    1 Rosewill Blackbone Computer Case                                               $39.99
    1 CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3  Power Supply  $144.99
    1 ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS             $79.99
    1 Western Digital Black WD1002FAEX 1TB Hard Drive                   $109.99
    1 ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 Motherboard                   $139.99
    2 Kingston HyperX 8GB Memory                                                       $79.98
    1 Galaxy 64TGF8HX6FTZ GeForce Video Card                               $89.99
    1 Galaxy 63TGS8HX3XXZ GeForce Video Card                              $59.99
    1 Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz Processor                        $319.99
    1 Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 64-bit                                      $139.99

    Subtotal $1,204.89
    3 Day Shiping $10.70
    Order Total $1,215.59

    I needed two video cards because I have 3 monitors. Speaking of which, the above does not include monitors, keyboard or mouse. So all in my computer is about $1,900. Yes, I know you can buy a prebuilt ASUS for $800 but the graphics are built in, the processor is a little slower, it only has half the RAM, no monitors included and the keyboard and the mouse suck. I actually did buy a $500 prebuilt ASUS (no monitors) for a data entry station and it's fine. But my computer is also the server so it needs to be beefier.

    • Like 2
  3. Also, I use 7 at home and 8 at work, and some programs, notably Firefox, is slicker on 8 than it is on 7, even though it's the exact same version of Firefox. There are things in 8 that programmers can utilize that simply aren't there in 7.

    My IT guy says 8 is much more secure and easier for him to work with than 7.

  4. I realize you don't have to use it, and I don't either.  My feeling is that 8 is perfectly usable because you can avoid the Metro/Modern UI, but "It's avoidable" isn't exactly high praise. 

    They didn't give enough (any?) thought to integration of the Modern UI in Windows 8--to me it feels "bolted on". 

    They wanted something that would work on tablets and look tablet-y. Their mistake was trying to make desktop users use it and making it full screen. In Win10 it's still there but its made to look menu-y.

  5. I can't imagine buying a new system with W7.  It may be supported until 2020 so buying today may be ok.  But what about next year and the next?  What about buying when there's only one more year left of W7 support?  By then, maybe W11 or W12 will be out.  Will you be afraid of the latest os?  Or will you be confident enough by then to go with W8?  I think this will go on and on.  I've always liked to buy the latest, use it as long as I could, then buy new with the latest.   I was fortunate enough not to have to buy new when Vista came out and could continue using my xp until W7 came out.  I may have bought Vista, may have gotten burned or not.  I don't know.  But W8 has been out almost 3 years.  Get the latest and learn the new interface.

     

    And, at some point, that new printer, scanner, mouse or keyboard you want won't even have drivers for win7.

    • Like 1
  6. The interface is a different story.  8 brought huge sweeping changes

    I assume you're talking about the so-called 'Metro' or modern UI. You don't have to use that. I don't. There only a handful of esoteric things in PC Settings that are not in Control Panel.

    Most people missed having a familiar menu, but I was never fond of the menu, so I just learned to live without it. I use icons on the Desktop, Taskbar and Quick Launch Toolbar. MS keeps trying to kill the Quick Launch Toolbar. They even lied in the help pages saying it was no longer a part of windows, but it's always been there in the background. I have 28 icons in my Quick Launch Toolbar, 100s on my Desktop and my 7 most used programs pinned to my taskbar that I activate with WinKey+1 thru 7.

    8 did fix 7's clunky UI for File Explorer and brought a host of other refinements to windows. It's much easier to add peripherals in 8 than ever before. In fact it's automatic in some cases.

    • Like 1
  7. I'm not going to update any of my main 8.1 computers, but I'll probably update my spare computer AFTER next tax season. I don't like to get too far behind in technology. Plus I'm sure some clients will have 10 before too long, and I need to be familiar enough with 10 to know my way around, so I can support those clients. If all goes well with my tests, I may consider updating, but there may be no compelling reason to update.

  8. I wish they would change the W4 to give you an optional % to have withheld. Yes all the software would have to be updated to do this, but it would make life so much simpler. MD has sort of done this, although they still make allowance for exemptions. Everyone gets withheld at the highest bracket rate after subtracting exemptions. I'm sure MD has improved its cash flow and spent less resources trying to collect balances due.

  9. "At this time, we will not include the new form for Maryland for the years 2011, 2012, and 2013. If you need to file this form, you will need to access the form from within Maryland website and include it within your amended return. We will submit the information to our company, to apply new updates for the year 2014.  We will release more information in the future to determine if this will be available for the current year. But this change will be avaialble for ATX 2015 software"

    So basically, screw you. C'mon ATX. This is one small form and this is a big deal for anyone who prepares MD returns.

  10. Got about 13% off of Max plus about 64% off enhanced fixed assets. The new licensing structure also saved me about $400 (2 add'l licenses vs. unlimited licenses).

    Not counting enhanced fixed assets, I paid 17% less than last year.

  11. Thanks for sharing that link.  It was fun reading some of the arguments that people were making both for and against the SCOTUS ruling. 

    You're welcome! We're not lawyers, so our opinions on SCOTUS rulings are more based on our beliefs than any knowledge of the legal system.

    I've always said lawyers job security is writing unclear documents then spending the rest of their lives arguing what they really meant.

    • Like 4
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