Had many problems last year with download and need for updates; ordered before the end of the year (2017) for my 2018 Tax Prep. Purchased the CD after the first of the year (2019) for my 2019 Prep and glad I did so.
Been using Tax Cut for more than 10 years but this is 2nd time I had a problem between TC & Micro$oft. Had the app running on my PC for a little over a month and it ran fine. Updates, etc worked. I added info to my return as received but when W2 arrived it would not start! Luckily I have several PCs available to me and just reloaded TC on a different box. I'm in the IT field and my PCs are in good order, patched and secure. Not sure why this happened.
Pros: Easy to prepare, Maximizes refund, Easy to import documents, Fast
If you have a pdf file with your W2 information the HR block software may not pull in all the information needed which can cause much misery trying to figure out what is missing.