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Do you procrastinate when it comes to organizing your finances? Well, if you use Money 2001, you may be glad you don't always stay on top of money matters. Three bugs generate incorrect totals and other errors in Money 2001. Without Microsoft's fixes, your finances may not be in shape--and the IRS may have a bone to pick with you.

Bug: The first problem causes Money 2001 to display incorrect costs for your portfolio investments. It may report double the amount you originally paid for those stocks, bonds, and antiques. Uh-oh.

Fix: Get the patch along with a description of the errors.

Bug: The second problem prevents the Today's Total Change values for mutual funds from being displayed in the Investing Center's Portfolio Performance view.

Fix: Microsoft offers a solution and details about the flaw.

Bug: When you import your brokerage's statement into Money 2001, you may notice exorbitant (and inaccurate) numbers. The value of bond purchases may be multiplied by 100. Consequently, you'll get an incorrect value in the register's total.

Fix: Get the patch by surfing over to Microsoft's site.

Windows Me Locks Out Norton AntiVirus

A clash between Windows Me and Norton AntiVirus could allow viruses to lurk in your system. The problem? Me won't allow AntiVirus 2000 or 2001 to scan one particular system folder. The root of the problem is a Windows Me feature called System Restore. The operating system creates a special folder where it periodically saves a complete snapshot of your machine's configuration and all your data. If your PC crashes, System Restore can return it to its original state without your having to wait for a complete refresh. To enable System Restore to do its job, however, the Me operating system creates a protected directory that cannot be accessed by Norton AntiVirus. As a result, unfortunately, you could have a stash of infected files lurking in Windows Me's protected folder and never know it.

Both companies have acknowledged the clash and have posted instructions for checking and disinfecting files in the protected directory. For Symantec's advice, visit the company's Service & Support page, select your version of Norton AntiVirus, click Go, and type System Restore in the search field. Find Microsoft's posting at its support site.

McAfee VirusScan Chokes PCs

If you use McAfee's VirusScan version 4.0.2 and haven't updated your virus engine, you may have run into an annoying glitch. A conflict between an older version of McAfee's scanning engine and the latest virus definition file downloads can cause frequent system crashes. The troubled engine is version 4.0.02--now over two years old; the current, trouble-free version is 4120.

In this case, one updated definition file is incompatible with the older engine. As a result, some PCs completely freeze immediately after Windows startup. To prevent your PC from crashing, be sure to update your McAfee antivirus engine if you have version 4.0.02 or earlier. To find out whether your system has the out-of-date engine, load VirusScan and choose Help, About to display your engine's version number.

McAfee recommends that you update your virus-scanning engine every three months to avoid these problems. To upgrade your antivirus engine, go to McAfee's Updates page.