Product Reviews

Microsoft's Money is one of the most popular financial management programs for home users. However, existing users might think twice before upgrading to this latest version.

Money 2005 doesn't have a particularly wide range of new features. The main emphasis, according to Microsoft, is on improved ease of use and greater integration with the MSN Money website, which offers a wide range of financial services and information.

To be honest, though, we weren't wildly impressed by the program's ease of use. The previous version, Money 2004, took a simple, step-by-step approach. It led you through a series of questions, asking for details such as your password and whether you wanted to track just your own finances or include your partner's finances as well. It would then guide you through the process of entering bank and credit card details and listing your income, household bills and other expenses.

The redesigned Money 2005 abandons that step-by-step approach and throws everything on screen all at once. The program's interface is designed to look very much like a web browser. A navigation toolbar runs across the top of the screen and

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immediately below this is a series of tabs, which take you to various 'money centres' including Banking, Investing and Budgets.

If you've used previous versions of Money, you probably won't be too shocked by Money 2005, as you'll already be familiar with the features included in each money centre. However, newcomers may find themselves feeling swamped by all the information onscreen.

We decided to start with the basics and enter the details of our online bank account so that we could use Money 2005 to download statements and keep track of our ever-growing overdraft. Unfortunately, we got lost along the way and somehow merged two accounts, with the result that Money 2005 told us we were £5,000 in credit - something that is utterly beyond the realms of possibility.

Matters aren't helped by the lack of a printed manual. The program does have its own online Help system, but this was often vague and unhelpful. For instance, the program's packaging refers to a Credit Centre that can provide information on your credit rating and loan repayments. This sounds useful, but searching the online Help files showed no mention of the Credit Centre, so we were left to search the 120-page PDF manual before we could find this feature.

It turns out that the Credit Centre is one of the services provided by the MSN Money website. The improved integration with MSN Money is about the best feature of Money 2005, as it provides all sorts of resources for handling investments, mortgages, credit cards and other financial products. However, a product aimed at home users should focus on ease of use. The redesigned interface and lack of a proper manual make it hard work to get the most out of this undoubtedly powerful financial tool.