Quick Tax Stopped Working

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by pianoralph, May 30, 2009.

  1. pianoralph

    pianoralph Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Running Parallels Desktop 2.5 Build 3224 on iMac 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 1 GB memory 667 MHz with Mac OSX Leopard Version 10.5.7. Memory settings are 604 MB and Hard Disk 8000 MB. Guest OS is Windows XP. Not exactly a newbie but a lot of the terms and instructions I read on this forum are 'way beyond me.

    Been using QuickTax in Parallels for a few years now, no problems. 2008 QuickTax installed fine and used it to generate 4 returns, 2 of which were NetFiled. One day, opened QuickTax to complete my return but no window. The icon is on the task bar so Windows thinks it's open, but can't get the window to show. Fortunately, self employed and no need to file returns until June 30th but that honeymoon will soon be over. I installed the QuickTax software on another PC to get some info, everything worked fine there, so it's not the software.

    Have been through the help system at QuickTax. Have tried reinstalling QuickTax here a number of times, no go. Also tried downloading a fresh copy of Build 3224 and reinstalled Parallels after first uninstalling from the computer. Nothing has changed.

    The QuickTax software worked fine on another computer, Where do I go from here?

    Other issues with Parallels. Very slow to load and close. Cannot have it running when using the Mac OS because nothing works very well on the Mac side. QuickBooks in Windows XP is just adequate, not running that well. I am reluctant to upgrade to version 4 because of horror stories I read on the forum, would there be any point in upgrading to version 3?
     
  2. estrelnikov

    estrelnikov Parallels Team

    Messages:
    287
    Parallels Desktop 2.5 (3224) is a coeaval of the first Leopard system, it is worth upgrading anyway. Parallels Desktop 4.0 latest builds are quite stable, please consider this option.

    Regarding the QuickTax issue, have you tried using Windows installer cleanup utility for example? Probably it got corrupted and can't be uninstalled properly.

    Regarding the performance issue, can you check Activity monitor on Mac side (Applications/Utilities) and Task Manager on Windows side (right-click taskbar -> Task manager). What processes consume the most of CPU and memory?

    Last, have you mistyped the RAM memory amount installed on your Mac (1Gb)?
    Mac OS Leopard requires at least 512Mb RAM, Parallels Desktop itself needs 512Mb and finally virtual machine with Windows XP -- 512 Mb. All in all it does not come to 1Gb...
     
  3. pianoralph

    pianoralph Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Thanks for your response, Estrelnikov. I did try posting earlier but my message vanished when I clicked on "Post Reply". So:

    Yes, we are considering upgrading.

    The QuickTax issue is the most pressing at the moment. I did download and run Windows Installer cleanup utility. QuickTax still won't open the operating window. Would it be worthwhile uninstalling and reinstalling again?

    Re the performance issue, after running Windows Installer cleanup utility, need to reinstall MS Office and get the printers working. Otherwise, Parallels opens and closes a bit more quickly. Things are faster on the Mac side too, but still very much slower than if Parallels were not running. So we don't keep Parallels running and handy.

    Activity monitor on Mac side without Parallels running (RSIZE):

    Activity Monitor 15.43 MB, Address Book 15.61 MB, Finder 21.13 MB, Printer 10.54 MB, HP Communications 16.55 MB, ICal 25.18 MB, Mail 65.9 MB, Preview 18.65 MB, Safari 131.2 MB.

    With Parallels running,

    Activity Monitor 10.72 MB, Address Book 3.34 MB, Finder 11.17 MB, HP Printer 3.05 MB, HP Communications 5.63 MB, ICal 3.44 MB, Mail 14.77 MB, Parallels Desktop 259.03 MB, Safari 21.06 MB. CPU numbers vary, most are 0 or low except Parallels Desktop which is 9.5. Safari is 2.7, oops 1.6, it keeps changing, now it's 3.

    Windows Task Manager

    taskmgr.exe 15.4 MB, hpqgalry.exe 6.25 MB, hpqtra08.exe 8.67 MB (could this be QuickTax 08?), svchost.exe 25.7 MB, hpcmpmgr.exe 6.6 MB, explorer.exe 24.96 MB. All the CPU numbers are 0 or 1 except System Idle Process which is 99.

    RAM memory amount: Here is a paste of the information in "About this Mac", More info...

    Hardware Overview:

    Model Name: iMac
    Model Identifier: iMac5,1
    Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
    Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
    Number Of Processors: 1
    Total Number Of Cores: 2
    L2 Cache: 4 MB
    Memory: 1 GB
    Bus Speed: 667 MHz
    Boot ROM Version: IM51.0090.B09
    SMC Version (system): 1.9f4
    Serial Number (system): QP64017XVUW

    I look forward to your response. Thanks again.

    Frances
     

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