TurboTax Basic 2002

TurboTax Basic guides you through preparing and filing your taxes quickly and easily. The EasyStep Interview process guides you through your return step-by-step, then double checks for errors and overlooked deductions. Information can be instantly imported from your Quicken or QuickBooks program (2001 or later) and quickly transferred from last year's federal return. You can even file your return electronically.

The software also allows you to retrieve and input your wage, mortgage interest, and investment data with instant data entry by automatically retrieving W-2 wage data, 1098 mortgage interest, and 1099 investment data from participating employers and financial institutions. It then enters the data into the right forms, reducing manual data entry and simplifying tax preparation.

TurboTax Basic also helps you identify entries that could trigger an audit. Audit Alerts check your return for items that might raise a red flag with the IRS, and provide information on key documents you should keep. In addition, TurboTax Basic helps you make the most of the changing tax laws: it is up-to-date, with all the latest tax law changes.

All federal versions of TurboTax desktop products for Windows include product activation to better ensure customers use the product in accordance with the License Agreement. An independent test of product activation technology in Intuit Inc.'s TurboTax desktop software products confirms the technology does not negatively impact computer performance or compromise customer privacy. The findings of the tests, performed by PCTest Corporation, an independent software-testing lab can be found at http://www.pctest.com/intuit/index.htm. You can still prepare multiple returns from one computer, and install and prepare your return on multiple computers. To fully uninstall the the SafeCast/C-Dilla element of TurboTax, you must download the free uninstall application at the TurboTax Support website. For additional information about product activation, go to http://www.turbotaxsupport.com and refer to TurboTax Product Activation in the News and Tips section.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star TurboTax really blew it this year!!
Reviewer: A software user from Miami, FL
I have been using Turbo Tax for 10 years, and up until this year, had no problem with it. However, this year frankly [stinks].
The product could not find my internet connection to go to online help. Took me 10 minutes to correct this. The product could not find my Quicken Deluxe 2000 tax information and offered to sell me Quicken 2003! This is NOT freeware or shareware, so why do I have to put up with all the sales and marketing [stuff] the program contains? Every other screen is trying to sell me something or get you to pay more for something else! It is annoying as hell! Also the infamous C_Dilla directory. I am all against software piracy, but for TurboTax to install software without my knowledge, and to run processes in my computer that I am not aware of and that run even when TurboTax is not running, is just totally wrong in my book! To me this is called "Spyware", period! I really hope Intuit reconsiders their tactics, because there are plenty of options out there for Tax preparation software, and honestly, this will be the last year I used TurboTax, because I am fed up with all this!

1 Star Beware of Intuit C_Dilla
I have been a consistent Turbo Tax user for the last 10 years, but what Intuit did this year with the installation of C_Dilla, aka Spyware, is unconscionable. As a result, I have switched to Tax Cut, and it works fine. There is no way I will install spyware on my PC. Intuit blew it big time on this one!

1 Star Spyware in purchased products? NO MORE!
What Intuit has done is completely unacceptable and has alienated many of their users. I'll be forever skeptical about any product that doesn't have a "DRM" (Digital Rights Management, aka C_Dilla) with a giant red X through it on the box. I'm all against piracy, but the methods used by Intuit have screwed many users who depended on their product to do their taxes.

1 Star C-Dilla, in detail
Here's a quote from extremetech.com. (ExtremeTech &sister publication PC Magazine're industry leaders. You've probably heard of their most famous writer, John C. Dvorak.) (Note:Intuit-TurboTax-2002's C-Dilla wasn't different from other versions of C-Dilla. It just got lotsa attention because TurboTax *was* very popular software until C-Dilla became a part of it.)

From ET's article:
"Likely the biggest problem users have expressed, is the level at which the TurboTax licensing agreement is managed and protected with the SafeCast/C-Dilla technology. People believe C-Dilla infiltrates their system in a very insidious manner, and uses memory and resources even when TurboTax is not loaded. And some believe it has caused them serious compatibility problems with non-related CD writing operations. (PC Magazine and ExtremeTech will be conducting some tests next week to see if we can duplicate some of these problems). [….] or your customers still looking to exit TurboTax for good, the uninstaller at this link now fully removes components of SafeCast/C-Dilla that were previously mostly impossible to remove."… If you're planning on using this product at work, forget it… your Info Technology manager will have a cow if he/she knows that you're installing destructive trojan/spyware (C-Dilla) on the company PCs. If you've already installed this software on a PC at work, let your IT manager know IMMEDIATELY, so he/she can take whatever steps are possible to remove C-Dilla.

In the 2002/2003 version of TurboTax, a great protest rose up from prominent computer-industry magazines and users, which led to Intuit/TurboTax somewhat apologizing, and offering a program that uninstalled C-Dilla after you'd uninstalled TurboTax2002. (The original uninstaller didn't remove C-Dilla.)

2004…does it have C-Dilla ? I don't know. It's not out yet. Approach with caution.

1 Star Spywhere everywhere on my pristine machine
In the past I've used and enjoyed Inuit's products - good user interface, useful features, but lately I've grown wary of their marketing masquerades. After installing TurboTax2002 I am finally fed up. I hate spyware. Good bye Intuit. I'll be using Microsoft Money (instead of Quicken) and the associated online tax preparation software next year.

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