Fixing Access Annoyances

Appendix A. Appendix

The Devil is in the details—and in the case of Access, it’s in the technical appendix. Here you’ll find behind-the-scenes particulars about maintaining your Access installation; tips on Access newsgroups that you can turn to for help; dozens of tables detailing Access functions, controls, actions, events; and more.

Installation Checklist

When casual users install Access, they generally run the installer and when it’s done, they assume that’s that. But Access power users and professional developers know that keeping Access healthy means going beyond what comes out of the box. With some simple preventive maintenance—installing service packs, re-registering DLLs, and so on—you can avoid headaches and mysterious failures too numerous to list. Here are the essentials to keeping Access healthy.

Keep Windows Up-to-Date

Whatever version of Windows you’re running, make sure that you have applied the latest security patches and updates. The easiest way to do this is by pointing Internet Explorer at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

Keep Office Up-to-Date

Same deal for Microsoft Office. Office updates can be found at http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate.

Keep Jet 4.0 Up-to-Date

Jet is the database engine under Access’s hood, and to minimize bugs, it’s essential you apply the latest Jet service packs. (See MSKB 239114 for detailed instructions.) To find out what version of Jet you have, locate the Msjet40.dll file; it’s usually in the \Windows\System32 or \Windows\System ...