Overview
Pocket Quicken is somewhat unique among Palm OS programs because it's a companion program to its Microsoft Windows counterpart. Pocket Quicken by itself will function just fine, but it's really designed to be an extension of the Windows version of Quicken (a Mac version is due out soon). Because of that, I'll assume that anyone interested in Pocket Quicken also uses Quicken for Windows.

For those familiar with Quicken, Pocket Quicken feels and functions in much the same way. You can track multiple types of accounts (checking, savings, credit card, investment, etc.). Each account has its own separate register that functions like the register in your checkbook. Register entries are made via a form that looks like a check, so it's very intuitive. You can review your transaction history to see if you remembered to pay that bill or make that deposit. You can even create a budget to help you track certain categories and make sure your spending stays under control. The best part is that when you HotSync with the computer running Quicken, all transactions are synchronized between Quicken and Pocket Quicken, keeping your finances organized and up to date.

Getting started
Landware has done an excellent job of making installation easy. You download and run the executable file from their Web site. This installs the program on your PC. Perform a HotSync operation to install the program to your Palm handheld. Next, perform a second HotSync operation. This one will automatically locate your Quicken data and copy it to your Palm handheld. This includes a limited transaction history for each account and your category and class information. If you don't want to track all your accounts, simply remove them from Pocket Quicken, and they won't synchronize next time.

It's that simple. Now you have your account information and a limited history on your Palm handheld for each account you have in Quicken. One word of caution if you have a limited amount of memory available on your Palm handheld: keep your history file short. I have years worth of transactions and could easily fill up the memory on my Palm m505 if I didn't limit the transaction history to 500.