An important part of Lawbyte is its Data folder. This is stored in the main Lawbyte directory in Program Files on the Local Disk (C:). The Data folder is the default location of the important files for Lawbyte, Case Management, and Purchase Ledger. Most users now store this information on there server, but there are some who still rely on this folder.
As some of our customers started to use Microsoft Windows Vista, we noticed some interesting things happening with the Data Folder. Things like the Matters.mdb file disappearing, or being out of date. A few minutes on Google revealed that Windows Vista does not let users save files in the Program Files directory. Instead it saves them in a 'Virtual Store', hidden on your hard drive, located at 'c:\user\[user]\appdata\local\virtual store' (replace [user] with the name you use to login with).
This can cause problems using Lawbyte, for example if two users login to the same machine, they could end up using different Matters files and postings done by one user would not show up for the other. Needless to say, this can cause problems when backing up too. You could be backing up an old matters.mdb, a matters.mdb which only has half the postings in, or not actually backing up at all.
The solution to this problem is to run Lawbyte as an Administrator. Administrators have greater access to your computer than normal users, which means they are allowed to save files to the Program Files directory.
To run Lawbyte as an administrator just on the odd occasion, right click the Lawbyte shortcut and select 'Run as Administrator'. If you want to run Lawbyte as an Administrator every time (highly recommended), right click the Lawbyte shortcut, select 'Properties', find the box which say 'Run as Administrator' and tick it, then click 'Ok'. If you are not an Administrator, you will have to provide the Username and Password of someone who is. With Lawbyte running as an Administrator, everything should now run as it should.
If you have been running Lawbyte on Vista for a while, we would recommend that you contact Edgebyte prior to making any changes noted here. Any users wishing to make this change should make a Backup before doing so. If your data is stored on the server, the problems outlined here should not affect you.
Martin Rigby
Developer, Edgebyte Computers Ltd.