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  Welcome To The Access Unlimited Newsletter - Edition 41
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Access Unlimited is an email newsletter that provides free tips, help and information for skilled Microsoft Access users and related software disciplines.

Produced by Garry Robinson (known below as "Ed") from Sydney, Australia.

In this edition, 

Garry Is Writing An Access Book
Switch The Mouse From Right To Left And Back
Access 2003
About Internet And Learning
Database Evolution
Yet More On The Junk Email Epidemic
Good Reading

GARRY IS WRITING AN ACCESS BOOK

If you wondered why this newsletter hasn’t been published for a while, I have been burning the midnight oil on a really interesting Microsoft Access book for Apress. The book is going to be all about

“ Microsoft Access Database Protection and Security ”

Included in the book are three chapters that cover the current state of Access Security and what we need to do about. The specifics of this include discussions on Password Crackers and issues like Importing. These topics alone are enough to blow most database protection out of the water. One solution that I discuss to address these concerns is really easy to implement and manage and shifts the onus of security across to Windows 2000 and Windows XP Operating systems.

Just in case all you Access 97 programmers think that you are going to be left out again, the book will be applicable to Access 97 right through to Access 2003. In fact, the superior help guides in Access 97 helped plug many of the gaps as I was writing the book. Why not read more at this address and if you are interested in a security topic, send me an email

http://www.vb123.com/map/goapress.asp

The book will take another 2 months to hit the streets and you can be certain that you will read about it in this newsletter. Now I had better get back to it as the publishers are getting impatient.  Ed

SWITCH THE MOUSE FROM RIGHT TO LEFT AND BACK

I heard a tip the other day from an Occupation Health Specialist that said it was a good idea to switch the mouse to the other side of your keyboard for a day a week. This is especially true if you suffer shoulder or back problems from grinding away in front of the keyboard. You can also add a second (USB) mouse to your computer if you only want to do this for some parts of your day.

ACCESS 2003

With the next version of Office just around the corner, be very careful installing the software as big brother wants to uninstall all versions of Access on your computer. As usual, you will need to take the custom install route.  

Also on Access 2003, there are lots on un-temping goodies coming our way like a Macro Virus checker that works exactly like that in Excel and Word. If you have any VBA code, you will get a Macro Warning every time that you open the database. If you don’t hear otherwise, the initial solution is to change your protection settings to Low until you work out what to do. My first impressions were that it will do little to raise the impressions of Access as a true development environment. Also with a $200 PA fee for Digital Signatures, most developers are not going to be too happy.

There is some good news in that there is no 2003 format for the database as it shares the same format as 2002 and surprise surprise, the help guide now includes DAO again. In fact, it even looks like MS have given up on trying to push DAO to the side and are starting to champion its usefulness again. Oh yeh, I almost forgot, the 2003 user interface is pretty groovy but us developers shouldn’t get too excited by that, should we!  Ed

ABOUT INTERNET AND LEARNING

One interesting observation that I can make after spending many months combing the internet to chase down answers to questions raised by the book that I am writing. The Internet and search engines in particular are marvelous tools when it comes to searching for specific answers. But if you don’t know the question, you really could get lost when trying to build a solution built on Internet material. As far as I can ascertain, this definitely applies to a topic such as MS Access Protection and Security as there are a lot of half truths out there boxed up nicely in good looking web pages and user group postings. That is why books are still a very important part of any Developer and IT Professional’s knowledge base.   Ed

GARRY IN THE GOBI

If you want a laugh, try and spot me in amongst these handsome devils in the Gobi desert. Picture taken on a trip to Mongolia to work on an Access database for Ivanhoe Mines.

http://www.gr-fx.com/images/garryandcamels.jpg

DATABASE EVOLUTION

Luke Chung from FMS writes a wonderful article on Access databases and their place in the evolution of time. One particular point that he makes that I must admit I have never heard of before is “Whilst Access provides a good prototyping development for server databases, it is better as a tool to decide if a database is going to survive or not.” This is interesting because when most database start off, they are terribly important to the persons pushing the concept. The reality though is that a good percentage of databases waste away after a year or two and thus aren’t worth upgrading because they were based on a business model that really wasn’t all the important. To summarize, using Access as your initial database is a terrific way to decide if the database is actually worth upgrading to a more expensive to build environment.

http://www.fmsinc.com/tpapers/genaccess/DBOD.asp

http://advisor.com/Articles.nsf/nl/12280

ADVERTISMENT - OZGRID BUSINESS APPLICATIONS

Very large site housing countless amounts of free content for Microsoft Excel and business related software. They sell all products related to Microsoft Excel and have a free 24/7 support forum for all Microsoft Office Applications. If it's Excel, it's

http://OzGrid.com

YET MORE ON THE JUNK EMAIL EPIDEMIC

I receive over 300 spam emails everyday and here is an explanation why

http://www.cdt.org/speech/spam/030319spamreport.shtml

I personally find that most of my spams on one account are a result of being a member of a popular ISP that seems to be a victim of Dictionary spamming. On the other account that gets heavily spammed, I suffer because I have published my email address in HTML pages in such way that it is easily farmed.

If you want to find out if your email address is on the web and can be farmed, go to Google and type it in. Don’t forget to look under the Google Groups tab as it may also turn up in the results there.

Good article on the background files that make up anti-spam lists.

http://www.gaznet.au.com/spam/techrepublic.htm

WOOPS

In the last newsletter, I mentioned that using the Crtrl-Y keys in VBA kills the current line of VBA. Well actually it CUTS the line, not deletes it.  This means that whatever's on the clipboard will be removed. So sorry if I misled anyone.

GOOD READING

Using MDE Libraries

http://advisor.com/ev/12298

Building calculated fields using the Expression Builder in Access
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/msaccess/article.php/2215151

Retrieve the Novell Username
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Databases/MS_Access/Q_20171232.html

SQL Server Cube Analysis
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/1429671

InstallShield Sues Wise
http://tr.mx0.net/r?ccTcnvEnvcEccTWHv

Cube Analysis with SQL
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/043003-1.shtml

3d Charting Components for VB6 and VB.Net
http://www.nevron.com/home.asp

Build a vb program by using excel for business logic
http://www.devx.com/enterprise/Article/11686/

A different Access bulletin board to try
http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/

A survey by Mike Gunderloy a while ago on Access Security
http://www.larkfarm.com/sax/survey_results_6.asp

Firewalls do not stop all spyware programs
http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/software/security/story/0,2000023554,20273592,00.htm

Use dates and times from Access 2000
http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2000/AcDateTimeHelp.aspx

If you like this newsletter, why not try the websites of others who contribute to this newsletter.
http://www.vb123.com/explore/links.htm

So thanks for reading our popular newsletter.  Feel free to make comments, copy the email to a friend or maybe even contribute to the next edition. And if you can, have a look at our software by using the Marketing section on the left hand side of this newsletter.

WRAPPING THIS EDITION UP

I read this on a bulletin board. Interesting Way To Handle Software CD’s !

“My Office products were working fine for the past two  years. Now when I attempt to use the programs, the security pops up asking me to re-enter the Office Key from

the back of my CD Case. I threw it out after I installed it. How can I take care of this nonsense. ?”

Hope you enjoyed the newsletter, back to the book.

Garry Robinson - Software Consultant
GR-FX Pty Limited
Sydney, Australia.
Ph +61 2 9340 7789 Fax +61 2 9665 8448

Software Resources http://vb123.com/

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Published  2003-10