O.K after being bullied by my accountant i finally and reluctantly agreed to use Sage Instant desktop after having a problems using Sage last time i used it 10 years ago. I have been using it since 1st March with no major problems, however this morning when i clicked on the icon to open it came up with notification error message and would not load my accounts. I don't subscribe to Sage support as I feel a product should work and continue to work without having to pay extra if it doesn't, and if i have accounts related question my accountant should be able to help, he charges me enough.
I did ring Sage at first to give them a piece of my mind but gave up the will when told my call would be answered in 25 - 30 minutes. At this point i noticed a link to further information and it was going on about making sure you have latest Windows installed, i have Windows 10 and its only be installed around 6 weeks and is kept up to date. At this point i did reboot my computer and luckily Sage did work this time. I am very concerned that I am going to be plagued by repeated issues with Sage, if i decided to change software is it going to be best to do it at year end or can it be done earlier. At the moment i have got one months worth of accounts on it and it would be very annoying to start from scratch again.
Anyone else had issues with Sage Instant accounts and not being able to access your accounts?
I got the impression from earlier posts that you had decided to embark on the sage purchase!!
I dont think this is a sage issue per se, more a microsoft one potentially, in that 2015 sage version was tested prior to W10 rollout and all the commentary about W10 is that there are still lots of known bugs.
Ive read somewhere someone suggested re-installing sage, although their site says you shouldnt need to, unless it does further into the articles of course. If you do need to do this dont forget to take a back up (or 3) and test it works.
If you must move - doesnt matter if you do it now given its only a month - just re-enter all your data. You can get a full audit trail in excel or csv to import if you are confident enough, or just re-enter via your source docs.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Yes i did reluctantly go down the Sage route, should have gone with my gut instinct. I've been using it with no technical issues on Windows 10 since March 1st. I have version21.5.9.201 and take regular back up's, about 2 a week onto external hard drive.
Will take a look at the links when i get a moment, must admit i don't relish the thought of re-entering all of the data.
According to Sage link you posted there should not be any issues:
Sage Instant Accounts
Future versions
We'll fully test and support future versions of Sage Instant Accounts on all operating systems supported by Microsoft, including Windows 10.
Current versions
Tip: If you aren't sure what your version number is, you can check it in your software in Help > About.
New installations of Sage Accounts
If you're installing Sage Accounts for the first time after installing Windows 10, the following versions are fully tested and supported:
If you have Sage Instant Accounts 2013 (v19) or above installed on your computer and you upgrade to Windows 10, your software is still supported. However, if you have any issues you may need to reinstall your software.
Sage Instant Accounts 2012 (v18) and below is not supported on Windows 10.
Ah - yes but my windows was up to date and auto updated, but was trying to sneak through an update that was mandatory when it shouldnt have been due to oops a (deliberate) issue at Windows - ie the forced upgrade to windows 10!!!!!! So you cant always trust that lot.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
I turned off automatic updates a while back and now regularly check for updates manually, reviewing what the update is for before installing it. Anything related to either Windows 10 or which mentions telemetry gets kicked out.
About a month ago, they appear to have pulled a fast one: A 'security' update for Internet Explorer which addressed half a dozen or so security issues along and brought with it an additional bonus: support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3146449
"This update adds functionality to Internet Explorer 11 on some computers that lets users learn about Windows 10 or start an upgrade to Windows 10."
In what was supposed to be a "security" update.
Given that they said the offer to upgrade to Windows 10 FOC was going to be an option for a year, with the official launch being last July, it'll be interesting to see what happens in a few months time.
I suspect they'll extend the deadline because Win 10 usage still isn't that high compared with Windows 7 - and they'd prefer it if everyone ran 10.
I *fear* they'll also ramp up their attempts at "persuading" people to upgrade.
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
OMG so they are at it again!!!!!!!!!! No take up hasnt been high has it, although there are now a pile of people out there who dont realise that windows 10 has been downloaded onto their PC and is sitting in the background, waiting!!!!!!
Aaggghhhh.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
If they've been upgraded to W10 they will know about it
I'm running W10 on both of my comps and don't know what the fuss is. One was an upgrade from W8 and one was already installed from new. They seem stable enough and although I know that M$ will use my usage to target ads my way that doesn't bother me because I ignore them anyway.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
John: Joanne said "downloaded" and "sitting in the background waiting" rather than "upgraded".
i.e. in many cases the Windows 10 update has been downloaded, and not yet installed. This is supposedly so that when they *decide to* update, it can happen that much more quickly - but for "decide" you can read "accidentally" because that's one of the problems with the Windows 10 update procedure: there have been a few instances in the news whereby a Microsoft update has "accidentally" triggered the update on people's computers whether they want to upgrade or not.
Indeed, I was very nearly a victim of a couple of those "accidents" - which is why I switched to manual updates.
(Today I've been using my phone to provide internet access for my computer - which I do occasionally, if I'm away and need access with no other way to get online. If the background download of Windows 10 happened while I was doing this, what do you think it would do to my data allowance?)
Part of "the fuss" for me is that the computers I purchase, using money I earn, are my property, and I will upgrade if *I* feel doing so is a good idea, at the time of my choosing. Microsoft have become increasingly aggressive about getting people to upgrade, with approaches that border on malware-like behaviour. Persuade me to upgrade based on the *merits* of what you are offering, not on the belief that you can do whatever the hell you want with *my* computer.
Directly related to that, another part of the fuss is the update system with Windows 10. Unless you are an enterprise user, Windows update is no longer under your control. As I said above, I've switched to manual checking/updating - but if I upgraded to Windows 10, I'd no longer have that option.
That means Microsoft can thereafter do whatever they want with my computer, such as make radical, counter-productive changes to the user interface like they did with Windows 8 - and, again, my computer, my property, so it should be my decision, not Microsoft's. It's also worth noting that lately a few updates have had to be pulled because they were b0rking people's computers. Always handy when you get up one morning to earn some money and find you can't do any work because of a broken update.
Then there's the advertising you mention - but the problem isn't that the ads are targeted, but that Microsoft are pulling information from you in order to target those advertising. Some people - me included, despite my apparent openness when it comes to posting on forums - value their privacy.
(Worth noting that one of the telemetry updates they slipped out to Win 7/8 users included hardwired IP addresses for the telemetry server - very naughty.)
And there's the whole "...as a service" malarkey that I simply don't buy into.
When Windows 10 was first announced, my stance was one of "I'll wait a few months from initial release to avoid any teething troubles, then update..." - Microsoft successfully changed my mind on that one.
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
