Dorando,

What reports do you suggest we run to help in the case of a file corruption?
I want to do whatever possible to help prevent this type of problem. (I've
already dealt with this once when trying to upgrade from 2001 D&B to 2003
D&B.)


"Dorando Pietri" <Spondoolix4[at]hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:078c01c36907$a103e360$a101280a[at]phx.gbl...
- quote -

One of the daily embarassments of supporting Money has
been the truly alarming proportion of calls which come
down to database corruption. Even worse has been the
number of these users who have to be told "I'm sorry -
your Money file is toast. Please start over." Not a happy
situation when the user has an unreadable floppy backup or
no backup at all. (Yes, this does happen.)

Now that Microsoft in its wisdom has sent this and other
technical support functions offshore (thus throwing over
300 wage-earners onto the mercies of the State in our
already economically depressed neck of the woods alone)
the sad truth can be told.

This is not to say that all Money users will see
corruption in their lifetimes. The vast majority will
never see any problems. But take the word of someone who
has seen the technical support end of numerous software
offerings over many years (Microsoft and otherwise), this
is a shamefully shaky file format.

On the last day alone of Stateside support for Money, I
saw 2 cases of inability to upgrade from Money 99 to 2004.
In both cases the Web-based Super Salvage utility
reported "Invalid Database" (while the version which comes
with Money 2004 did at least go thru the motions of
salvaging - come on MS, put the most current version on
the Web) but the final result was the same - the format
conversion froze the application. One user had access to
Money 2001 and was able to step upgrade. The other had to
Export/Import (KB 178830) with attendant loss of data. It
is depressing that this problem has carried over from
Money 2003.

There is no point writing whizz-bang software when the
database has a Sword of Damocles hanging over it. It shows
a lack of consideration, contempt even, for the users who
are trusting their financial records to Microsoft Money.

In the meantime, carry on making frequent copies of
your .mny file onto reliable external media, export
critical accounts to qif and run those reports. (I print
them to Adobe pdf format)

And the best of luck to our friends in Bangalore - they'll
need it.