Forum Discussion
UKNovice
Mar 27, 2022Copper Contributor
Access database threat ??
Firstly let me say that I'm 53 &my father is 80. Neither of us has ever had any computer training and have picked up what we've needed to as we've gone along, so any help will need to be VERY easy ...
George_Hepworth
Mar 27, 2022Silver Contributor
UKNovice You are apparently running into licensing and activation problems in trying to install the same copy of Access multiple times on different computers. I wouldn't bother with Access 2003 at all. It's now 19 years old and things have changed a lot in that time.
It's also true that Access 2010 is problematic, but the warning you describe is definitely not one we would expect to see, i.e. "our data had been infected with a code that could damage it". We would expect to see a warning that you are trying to install unlicensed software since the activation was previously used for a different computer. Maybe you can post a screenshot of the actual message? I realize that means trying to set it up again, but to be clear, the only information available to us is the information you provide.
That said, the mdb file itself is probably okay. I'm assuming that you both have backups of it as well.
I would suggest you invest in a new version of Access -- either the 2021 perpetual license or the MS 365 monthly rental license -- and forget trying to resurrect older versions.
IIRC, MS offers versions of MS 365 that can be installed on more than one computer, which would mean both you and your father could use the same license.
In any event, the fact that you have such an enormous investment in your relational database application certainly justifies purchasing the appropriate tools for it.