Quicken crapifies its software

I just had an interesting interaction with Quicken (the accounting software) I'll pass along so you don't have to repeat it.

I was happily using Quicken 2015, but began to get an error saying my backup of the accounting data "couldn't open source file." Evidently, backing up the accounting data to a Dropbox directory interfered with a file lock--Dropbox was trying to sync to the cloud server as I was writing to the same file.

This is an easy-to-fix error, so I thought "I'll just upgrade to Quicken2017, and--Bob's your uncle--I'll get a backup without this annoying error message!"

...So I did. But Quicken didn't fix the error!

OK, I grumbled, I'll just live with the problem. OK, actually, I made a batch file to do the backup after Quicken opened, and I closed it again. Here's what it looks like, if you're curious:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Quicken\qw.exe"
pause
cd "C:\Users\User\Documents\
Quicken\"
copy /Y .\[MyFile].QDF "C:\Users\Users\OneDrive\[MyFile].QDF"
pause

If you want to do likewise, use the above contents, modified so it fits your directory structure, to make a text file with the .bat extension and call it to open Quicken. If you made QuickBackup.bat, then type "QuickBackup" on a command line, or right-click the file and make a desktop shortcut you can double-click.

...But wait, there's more!

After having solved the backup problem, I began getting an error when attempting to download checking account information. In fact, the download stopped working altogether. Manually entering accounting data is pure drudgery, so I contacted Quicken.com support (at the request of my credit union).

The tech support guy explained Quicken has been sold by Intuit to "HIG Capital Group" and they are busily scheming to make it into a revenue source. I was told they'd charge me $200 to fix my problem, (and give me free upgrades to Quicken 2018 and Quicken 2019, and tech support for a year).

I accepted the extortion, then watched the tech support guy. Here's what he did: He ran a command shell as an administrator (start>cmd, right-click to "run as admin") and then typed:

sfc/scannow

at the command prompt. This scan disclosed no problems.

He then went to Quicken, edited the problem download account, and clicked "Deactivate the account."

...at this point, I stopped him, and asked for a refund of my $200 (actually $199.99), claiming he hadn't found or fixed a problem. His supervisor gave me a refund.

I then went to the problem account, deactivated, then re-set-up the online access. Presto! It worked!

I'm feeling pretty good about having solved these problems, but am troubled by how fragile any fix is. Nothing prevents Quicken from "updating" the software to inject additional problems I can't solve...making me again vulnerable to the extortion.

So...two words of advice:
1. Try the batch file, and try deactivating the account if you encounter the problems I had.
2. Do *not* upgrade to Quicken 2017 if you don't have to.

... Update: Quicken says these guys weren't affiliated with them. They still haven't fixed the backup problem, though.