Due to the large size of the Keystone Tax Solutions initial program installation and periodic Federal Updates, a dial-up connection is not a reliable way to download these items. For this reason, we discourage the use of a dial-up connection when connecting to Keystone Tax Solutions. A dial-up connection may be used to transmit returns and receive acknowledgements through the Keystone Tax Solutions software, but again this method is not the most reliable way to connect to our servers, and a high speed connection is recommended.
Cable and DSL modem connections are faster and more reliable than most other types of Internet connections. Other types of connections are either slower or more subject to periodic loss of connectivity. Due to the size of the Keystone Tax Solutions Program installation and some of the updates, a dial up connection is rarely practical. Anyone using a dial up connection should be prepared for very long download times, frequent dropped connections, and should definitely plan on ordering an installation cd instead of trying to download the program from their My Account. Contact your sales representative to order a CD.
Each workstation computer runs the Keystone Tax Solutions program locally from the drive that it is installed on. Updates are downloaded and installed on the transmitting computer first. Updates must then be installed on each workstation computer in order to be applied to the program files that are run locally. This ensures the changes that are included in each update are reflected no matter which computer is used to work on a tax return.
The Update Manager is a module within the Keystone Tax Solutions program which allows you to specify updates to be downloaded automatically when you open the program for the first time each day. You may select the Federal Individual, Individual E-File, Federal and State Updates to be automatically downloaded and installed.
To turn the Update Manager on or off, from the Main Menu of Keystone Tax Solutions select:
- Updates
- Use Update Manager (If you answered YES, continue to the next step)
- Configure Updates
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Select the updates you want to have automatically downloaded and installed.
Check to see if your computer was recently updated with any Anti-Virus or Firewall Software updates. Microsoft Windows and your security software are designed to periodically pick up updates to improve performance, fix known issues, and increase security (normally daily). Unfortunately, these updates can change the way your computer operates, and may have blocked Keystone Tax Solutions from connecting to our host computers. The security updates may also prevent your Keystone Tax Solutions software from being able to communicate with our secure servers to transmit returns, pick up acknowledgements and download updates. To fix this problem you will need to adjust your windows communications settings or security software configuration.
- We have found that the majority of problems with connectivity have to do with firewall issues. Locate your firewall software and open it. Find the section in the program that will allow you to access blocked internet sites or programs. Once you find this section, look for the Keystone Tax Solutions files taxprg.exe and taxupd.exe and click on the option to Allow Full Access or Grant Full Permission. Now try to connect to Keystone Tax Solutions. If you find that Keystone Tax Solutions is not blocked in your Firewall Program, you may want to temporarily disable your Firewall as you connect to Keystone Tax Solutions.
- 2013 and Prior There are three check boxes in the bottom right-hand corner of the Download/Install updates screen that are used when connecting to the Keystone Tax Solutions for Updates. (FTP, HTTP and Connect Using Alternate Host) The default connection is FTP. Most Keystone Tax Solutions users will be able to connect to our host computers via the FTP connection. If not, you can select the HTTP connection. If you have trouble with these connections, you have another option which is the Connect Using Alternate Host. This option is used together with either FTP, HTTP and should get you connected to one of our host computers to download updates.
Updates must first be downloaded and installed on the transmitting computer before they can be installed onto the workstations. Also, in order for the workstations to access the downloaded updates, make sure that the electronic drive in the Path Menu on each workstation computer is set to the network location where the program is installed on the transmitting computer. (N:\ Drive, or the drive letter that you used to map the workstation to the transmitting computer.)