Two copies of Fund Manager on one computer

[dreherd]

Windows XP SP3. When I originally installed Fund Manager on this computer, it located itself in Program Files. At some time later during the upgrade process, Vista had been released, and Mark said the only place to put Fund Manager was in Documents. Now I have a Fund Manager in Documents, and one in Program Files. I tried to uninstall the copy in Program Files, but it shares a file or two with the copy in Documents, which then no longer worked. So I reinstalled the Program Files copy, and now have two copies going, but it is a bit of a bother to keep them both current and the same. I keep switching from one to the other. Now I have just downloaded and purchased 10.1, but not yet installed it. Is this a good time to revert to one copy only, and what is the best way to do it? Thanks very much for your help.

[Mark]

Hi dreherd,

You should probably have just 1 copy installed, and the program is best installed into the normal Program Files area. The program is installed there, but your data is located in the My Documents \ Fund Manager folder by default. I think what you may have remembered me saying is that your data should not be stored inside the Program Files area. It is perfectly fine to have the program itself installed there, but you don't want to store data files in the Program Files area. You are actually able to do this on XP, but starting with Vista, you won't be able to write data files into the Program Files area. So, in summary, just install 10.1 into the Program Files area, and keep your data somewhere else, like "My Documents \ Fund Manager". The data files are the investment *.dat and portfolio *.mm4 files.

[dreherd]

Hi Mark,

Then I should just delete the My Data folder that is in Fund Manager in the Program Files copy, or just leave it alone and not use it? Does the My Documents My Data updating then work?
I have no idea how this got started

Thanks for helping.

dreherd

[Mark]

Hi dreherd,

Before deleting any data files, make sure you know where your data files are coming from. You can add "Location" and "Filename" to the Portfolio Editor using "View / List Columns...". Then, you can figure out where all of your files are coming from. They should not be stored under the Program Files area. Assuming your data is not in the Program Files area, you could delete the My_Data folder in there.

[dreherd]

Hi Mark,

I do know where they are. I back them up every time there is a change onto a flash drive. I use a file management program which makes it all too easy to manipulate files and folders. But, maybe I will just leave them there in Program Files, use the My Documents files, and not use the Program Files set any more. That is simple enough.

But, if you have the time, why shouldn't one use the Program Files, Fund Manager, My Data folder's files?

Thanks so much for helping straighten out the confusion, and thanks for this awesome program.

dreherd

[Mark]

Hi dreherd,

Sounds like a good (safe) plan.

The reason you shouldn't save your files underneath the "Program Files" area really comes into play starting with Windows Vista. When running with User Account Control (UAC) turned on (which is the default) users running Vista compatible programs are not allowed to write data files into the Program Files area. You will get a permission denied error. Even more confusing is if you run a non-Vista compatible program that tries to write into the Program Files area, the write will succeed, but your data is stored in a special folder under the user's account called the "Virtual Store". The best approach is to follow the Windows guidelines, and not write data files into the Program Files folder...

[dreherd]

Hi Mark,.

Thanks so much for the clarification. This helps us all. Your Fund Manager is so very helpful. It was a great day when I discovered it. You don't need to reply to this.

Best wishes,
dreherd