PSA: Switch To - Retry window, Ive figured out why it does it to me

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

So Ive been plagued by that Switch To - Retry window for years and now I know whats causing it.....Its when Carbonite is scanning the PS files and updating my cloud backup.  Each time it happens, I check the Carbonite icon in the systray and sure enough, its either Updating files or has just finished updating within the last 90 seconds.

Im going to add some more RAM to my system this year and see if that helps at all, but for anyone else that keeps seeing this stupid window popup, if youve got an anti virus or cloud backup running in the background that scans your PS files, this might very well be the culprit.

[dascpa]

You are mostly correct.  Any background program running can cause a delay.  But as Carbonite works continuously if it was only Carbonite you would have this problem throughout the day.  I have added tons of RAM and that has not solved the problem.  I see it mostly with QuickBooks Desktop, every once in a while ProSeries and my personal belief is that Intuit is just trying to piss me off more.  And yes, that's my technical answer.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

I dont remember this happening until 2018 when they reworked the software....its all been downhill since then it seems.

[qbteachmt]

"I see it mostly with QuickBooks Desktop"

For QB, you would be using QB to make backups into a folder that is not the same as where the Company Files (.qbw) and associated files are located. That way, Carbonite, Mozy, etc, only need to mirror the backup files. If you have them mirror these relational database working files, you risk corruption because you get what is called Conflicted Copies. I know Lacerte works similarly. I don't know about ProSeries under-the-hood restrictions.

When a program is open, such as QB or Lacerte or Word or Excel, they may or may not open the data file (the company file, the tax return, the document, the spreadsheet) as "in memory" (this is how Word and Excel work) or as Live Connected. When it is live connected and constantly updated, that's when a mirror routine such as Carbonite and Mozy will freeze, or lock up, or make a system freeze while working; it's Record Locking. It would be like you trying to use a single-slot toaster, but I already put something in it. You have to wait.