QuickBooks update deletes your data, Intuit offers "waiting list" for fix

The latest update to Intuit's QuickBooks for Mac OS X should be avoided, as QuickBooks or the updater itself may delete all contents of the Desktop during the update process -- an egregious and inexcusable consequence. The user may also find himself unable to write files to the Desktop afterward. Here's the scenario:

A user sees that an automatic update to QuickBooks is available. Said user proceeds with the update, but receives an error message indicating that not enough disk space is available to install the update. Immediately after this error message is displayed, and the "OK" button clicked, the user finds that all contents of his Desktop have been deleted, with no conventional means of recovery.

Of course, if you have a recent backup, or are using Leopard's Time Machine, you can easily restore the contents of your Desktop. However, after restoring your Desktop contents (if you don't decide to delete QuickBooks entirely and write off Intuit for good), you need to stop QuickBooks from automatically updating again. This can be accomplished by launching the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and entering the following command:

• defaults write com.intuit.QuickBooks2007 QBCheckForUpdatesKey NO

(replace "QuickBooks2007" with "QuickBooks2006" if you ahve that version)

A borderline-ridiculous technical support document posted by Intuit now states:

"If you have lost files from your desktop and have not yet rebooted your computer. DO NOT reboot it until you speak with technical support. It may be possible to recover the missing files. There was a problem with the update for QuickBooks Pro MAC for version 2006 and 2007. The update displays the following message: 'there is not enough disk space to install.' Intuit has resolved the problem that caused this on the server."

adding:

"You may have experienced this issue but no data loss has occurred. Each time you attempted to update QuickBooks, a file was created.in the User folder. If you had attempted to update three times, you would have created three new files. Or if you had attempted to update four times, you would have four new files. These files were named in the following manner: Desktop1, Desktop12, Desktop123, Desktop1234, and so on. It is okay to delete these newly created files from the User folder."

Essentially, the company is claiming that the issue will no longer occur during the update process (is anyone really going to trust the Intuit auto-update mechanism again?) and that technical support representatives may be able to help you recover the files, though no online documentation for a fix is available. We're guessing the fix isn't paying for data recovery service.

A similarly silly post from "Intuit Employee" jfisher to the Intuit support forums states:

"[...] we're working now to develop the best methods for assisting customers in retrieving their files. Go to my new discussion and you'll find the link to a KB where you'll find another link (!) where you can get yourself on a list for callback and assessment of your situation. There are no further alerts necessary as the situation was resolved yesterday morning. This event will NOT recur on your QB 2006 on your other machines.

"I am not yet in a position to tell you whether the 2007 version will be made available. Suffice to say that your other 2006 versions will NOT suffer this 'same fate.' Go get on that list! Customers are being contacted on first-come, first-served basis."

i.e.: "We deleted your data, now put yourself on a list and we might call you back with a secret solution that might work."

You can get on the "waiting list" here. Wait a minute, did they say "callback?" Because that sign-up page only has a field for an email address.

Here is Intuit's only listed technical support line: 1-888-320-7276.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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