filePro and Vista

[Mike Schwartz (PC Support)]

> Quoting Mike Schwartz (PC Support) (Sat, 18 Nov 2006 18:08:38 -0600):
> [...]
> >     Have you tried switching users, then updating a file, then switching
> > back to the first user to see if the files remain changed?  I just want
> > to know if the "virtual files update for each user" security feature
> > kicks in on filePro data files.  I know that it will trash Quicken and
> > most other "legacy apps", which is defined as pretty much any pre-Vista
> > data application.
> 
> filePro works just fine in this situation.  User 2 is properly locked
> out of updating a record being updated by user 1, and when user 1 saves
> the record, user 2 sees the changes as soon as the record is re-read by
> entering update mode.
> 
> Where did you see that this might be a problem?
> 
> --
> KenBrody at BestWeb dot net        spamtrap: <g8ymh8uf001 at sneakemail.com>

    I don't mean the record locking for network users.  Actually, I wasn't
referring to record locking at all.  All this happened in single user mode
on the same laptop that Intel provided for us to work on.  The laptops were
not networked.

    This particular bug hits a single computer where more than one different
user updates a file.  For example, this would hit a filePro checkbook
program on a home computer where a husband and wife each log into the
computer with their own login, or where a boss and a secretary log in as
different users on the bosses desktop computer to update personnel files
that are not on the network.    

    In the hands-on training portion of the Microsoft "Vista - Ready to Rock
Roadshow", one of the exercises we had to go through was to update a record
in a Quicken-like application as user "Lisa".  It appeared to us that Vista
was allowing this "legacy" database to be updated just like normal.  The
files looked like they had been updated and the totals on the screen
correctly displayed that we had added a new record to the database.

   However, when we went in through Windows Explorer and looked at the
original database file, it had not been modified (same byte length and
date).  The instructor pointed out that Vista had created a "virtual update"
to the file, which resided inside Lisa's "Application Data" subdir.  This
file logged the changes that we made to the master file.  

   The bad news came when we logged off as user "Lisa", and logged in on
this same laptop as user "Ralph".  Ralph saw the original, unmodified file
without Lisa's changes.  We were told that if Ralph had modified the file
and then Lisa logged back in, Lisa would have seen only her changes applied
to the original file and NOT seen any of Ralph's changes.  In a husband and
wife checkbook scenario, this would have been a perfect way for both of them
to spend the same money that was in the checkbook! 

   The strong message presented was to make sure if you install applications
like pre-Vista versions of Quicken or Quickbooks that you have to make sure
all the data files get stored in the special "shared data" folders, or else
Vista will go into this "virtual file creation" mode.

Mike Schwartz