DealsOnTheWeb Daily Deal: It's Friday, time for the Amazon Friday Sale!
QuickBooks Updater Deletes Desktop Folder
by , 10:45 AM EST, December 17th, 2007
QuickBooks 2006 and 2007 for the Mac users received a rude wake up call from Intuit over the weekend when the accounting application's auto-update feature began deleting user's Desktops. Many users are reporting the loss of gigabytes worth of data thanks to the updater.
The story seems to be the same for every QuickBooks user so far: After launching QuickBooks, they get an alert telling them a new software update is waiting. Once the update begins downloading, their Desktop directory along with all of the files on their Desktop, are deleted.
While some QuickBooks users have speculated that this may actually be some kind of exploit, there is no evidence so far to indicate this is anything other than a problem with Intuit's installer process.
Intuit's QuickBooks forums are filled with comments from disgruntled users that lost data along with their Desktop directories.
The company is advising users disable the auto-update feature until the problem is corrected. To disable the feature, do this:
- Launch Terminal. It's in Applications/Utilities.
- Enter this command: defaults write com.intuit.QuickBooks2006 QBCheckForUpdatesKey NO
- Press Return.
If you have already lost data thanks to the auto-update and don't have backups of your important files, your only remedy is to rebuild your files, or use a data recovery utility like Data Rescue II from Prosoft Engineering.
[Thanks to TMO reader Paul Isaacs for the heads up.]
Observer Comments
Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:07 pm Subject: It happened to me
This is the first time I've had to use Time Machine. It worked to the tune of over 3.5 GB!
I think Intuit is in for a big pile of lawsuits. A lot of people work all their stuff from their Desktop - they are screwed if they don't have Time Machine, or something similar!
The cool thing was that the update was an automatic update when you opened Quickbooks - it automatically deleted the Desktop! NeatOh!
Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:14 pm Subject: Forgot to mention
Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:38 am Subject: Simple solution
QuoteGuest wrote:
T
I think Intuit is in for a big pile of lawsuits. A lot of people work all their stuff from their Desktop - they are screwed if they don't have Time Machine, or something similar!
One word: DON'T. Don't run anything from the Desktop. It's inefficient, costs you time when you can't find stuff, clutters the desktop, and more. Instead, build your own filing system and use it. I was shocked that Leopard includes a "Downloads" folder. I've had one for years, going back to OS 7.5. I have a "Work" folder, with active projects, and others like "Data," "Reference," "Shopping," etc., all in "George's Stuff," a folder inside the Documents Folder. The Documents Folder gets cluttered by all the stuff various applications add, so I created another just for my personal stuff. The ONLY file in my Desktop folder is an alias for my printer, like the Desktop printers of yore.
Recent Headlines - Updated Thursday, August 28th, 2008
- Thu., 4:55 PM
- Ars: IE8, Beta 2, Shows MS is Serious About Catch-Up
- 4:10 PM
- iPodObserver - AI: iPhone 2.0.2 Update Performance Affected by Those with Older Versions.
- 3:15 PM
- The Complete Text of Steve Jobs' Obit, Accidentally Posted by Bloomberg
- 2:15 PM
- BBEdit 9 Beefs Up Searches, Adds Text Completion, More
- 1:50 PM
- iPodObserver - Apple iPhone 2.0.2 Fix is Subtle - Too Subtle for Some
- 1:15 PM
- Apple Stores Generally Mirror U.S. Population Density
- 12:30 PM
- iPO Review - FlowerVest case for iPhone 3G
- 12:10 PM
- BW: Students Will Save Apple's Fourth Quarter
- 12:10 PM
- OmniPlan 1.6 Adds Project 2007 Support, More
- 11:30 AM
- Apple Patent Shows Off Tablet Technology
- 10:35 AM
- Hot Forum Topic - How Much Use Does Your iPhone Get?
- 9:25 AM
- iPodObserver - Orange: No Padded iPhone Lines in Poland
- 8:45 AM
- iPO Ted Landau's User Friendly View - The iPhone Takes Some Hits
- 8:10 AM
- iPodObserver - VimpelCom Lands Russia iPhone 3G Deal
The Mac Observer Reader Specials
- Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
- OWC: OWC Mercury On-The-Go FW400/800/USB2/eSATA Portables High Performance A/V Rated, **Bus Powered** **Up to 500GB in the Palm of your Hand** Macworld Editor's Choice, CNET 'Very Good' - from $75.99!
New MacPro Memory 800Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $104 / 4GB $172 / 8GB $338. Click to Maximize your Macs...
Mac observers can now play Party Poker for Mac as well as Mac casino games by going to MacPokerOnline.com.
RamJet Memory: Mac Pro FB-DIMMs: 2Gig kit $115, 4Gig kit $179, 8Gig kit for $355! 500G Seagate Hard Drive $129! Click hereFor the latest Apple products use Ciao a comparison website to find laptops like MacBook Air. Then find the best prices on MP3 players and use our comparison tool to evaluate cell phones.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Nikon D200 Digital SLR Camera Body: $999.99 Delivered - $600 Drop 
LG 23" Widescreen LCD HDTV: $458.29 
Flip Video Ultra Series 30-Minute Camcorder: $69.99 Delivered 
Canon SD750 Silver PowerShot 7MP Digital ELPH Camera: $149.99 Delivered 
OWC Neptune FireWire 400 Hard Drive Price Drops 
