Using the virtual machine for running older xp programs is a very good idea, however you have to understand how to set it up and you might want to have someone help you with that if you choose to get a newer version of windows. The 2 gigs is the amount of RAM memory it has and for xp that should be workable. As to why it is so slow, lots of things can contribute to that from infection, malware, number of programs, and possibly it needs a defrag and disc cleanup. If you are buying it from a business ask for them to do the cleanups before you buy it. Check out the websites for the software you are using they often times offer an updated driver etc to have the program work on the newer version of windows. For a business I would really recommend moving to at least windows 7 for security reasons since very soon Microsoft will not be providing any type of updates including security related ones. I also just read an article about some of the antivirus companies moving away from supporting xp. It really is going to be fairly obsolete after the end of life date. So for the safety of your files etc you will want to be looking to move forward.

Brushworks, thank you for the heads up for QuickBooks. It's essential to our small business - I'll be holding off on the update for now. DH may retire first of the year but until then I'm running invoicing, payroll liabilities, income for two households through QuickBooks. *I might add, you said you are 'tweaking' it. My training in QuickBooks has come from my accountant showing me where she wants figures/entries for her year end work, I'm not formally trained nor am I an accountant. I suspect 'tweaking' beyond my knowledge ;)

Let's back up and define if we are discussing Direct Connect, which is what Quicken uses to log on to financial institutions and download transactions. Direct Connect in Quicken 2012 stopped working on 4/30/2015. This change was done by Intuit, who makes Quicken, so there is no way it works after that date. I assume Quicken 2013 will stop working on 4/30/2016, Quicken 2014 on 4/30/2017, etc. Intuit's Official Statement: As per your EULA, all online services for Q 2012 products ended on April 30, 2015. You must use a newer version of Quicken to continue to avail yourself of these services. They refer to "all online services", meaning where Quicken goes online and retrieves transactions or other information. I recall having to upgrade Quicken 2012 because Direct Connect timed out in the previous version but I'm not 100% sure of that. Everyone I know that used Direct Connect in Quicken 2012 saw repeated warnings. If you didn't, I'm guessing you might be exporting a file from your institution and manually importing that one file for that one institution into Quicken. That is a completely different part of the program and probably still works. If that doesn't then there could be a problem with the file. I'm completely unfamiliar with that part of the program. This is SOP for Intuit, selling a programs for an extremely low price, and then having the upgrade be very close to the price of the product outright. Many of the Quickbooks products time out much faster. I think Quickbooks with Payroll forces you to buy a new one each year. PS: As I reread my first answer, I realize is seemed harsh, which I didn't intend. I'm sorry if it offended anyone.

This is really not a partisan thing. I recognize that politicians I don't like, like Obama (who I think was damaging to the country), are basically good people and not unbelievably corrupt. Ironically, though, from my perspective, I would prefer to have Clinton as President than Obama b/c she's Machiavellian and corrupt and won't do anything to jeopardize her ability to hold on to power as long as possible, so she's more likely not to push the envelope with far left propositions like Obama, who I think actually has political convictions (unlike Clinton who stands for nothing). The Clintons, unlike leftists who actually have ideological belief systems they care about, care about benefiting and enriching the Clintons. That's the entirety of their value system and any contributions they may happen to make to the world are secondary to enriching the Clintons and expanding their power. Th foundation is just an extension of that... With all of the facts about the foundation, it is hard for me to picture anyone defending it, to be honest. From their own tax returns, the foundation raised over $500 million from 2009-2012. More than $25 million went for travel expenses; almost $110 million for employee salaries and benefits; and $290 million for 'other expenses. Very odd that if these "other expenses" were actually going primarily to legitimate and honest charitable purposes, that there wouldn't be more detailed disclosures. If you are running a charity, you don't pay millions for private jet travel or thousands of dollars a month to Clinton cronies like Sid Blumenthal ($10K a month for Sid b/c Clinton couldn't get him in at the state department and had to put her old family friend on the payroll somewhere). When you look at even their own lists of what they actually DID, it amounts to very, very little. No way do these "initiatives" and "programs" they describe add up to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of charitable donations. And even their supposed "charitable initiatives" are rife with controversy. Take Haiti- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c2oBh1yDhc In January 2015, there were protests outside of the Clinton Foundation for wasting billions and awarding contracts to non-Haitian companies.The activists also said Haiti as a cover for foreign governments to funnel kickbacks of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation Potesters at the Foundation's Harlem offices say the money was wildly mismanaged and did not provide the relief Haitians desperately needed. "Only 900 homes were built, and they were not even built in the area where the earthquake took place," said Ricot Dupuy of Radio Soleil. "So much inconsistency, so much irregularity." This is not even getting into the sketchy donations from foreign governments and people with business before the state department and the accusations of pay-for-play. Millions from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, with HORRIBLE records on women's rights as Clinton proclaims herself to be for women and children. The there was the uranium deal.... In 2010 the State Department approved a move by the Russian state-owned company Rosatom to purchase a Canadian mining company with uranium mineral rights on US soil after a bank with ties to the Russian company paid Mr Clinton $500,000 for a speaking engagement in Moscow. The Canadian company in question was founded by million-dollar foundation donor Frank Giustra. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32441222  Or how about when Clinton's State Department approved of "$165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation," including "Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar," according to International Business Times- http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hillary-clintons-state-department-1934187 Or when the Clinton Foundation admits breaking ethical rules by taking money from Algeria. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/11437994/Clinton-Foundation-admits-breaking-ethical-rules-by-taking-money-from-Algeria.html  Or reports that: "More than half the people outside the government who met with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state gave money — either personally or through companies or groups — to the Clinton Foundation. It's an extraordinary proportion indicating her possible ethics challenges if elected president." http://bigstory.ap.org/article/82df550e1ec646098b434f7d5771f625/many-donors-clinton-foundation-met-her-state