Users of AceMoney v4.20+ - be careful with your data file!
The new encryption format introduced in v4.20 may play a bad joke on you. If you have used your data file without password (e.g. you use it in safe environment and don't see a need for it) and it was converted to a new format by v4.20 make sure that you go to configuration and change one very important setting - mark check box next to "Permit access by multiple users". If you don't do that - you may accidentally loose all your data!!! It's done by a bad design of the new AceMoney program. And BTW, I don't remember any warning about that important issue when file was converted...
My personal experience:
I have been this program for past several years and never put password to protect the data file. v4.20 has converted data file to a new format and everything was fine ... until the program got somehow corrupted. I re-installed it (no biggie) and entered my license. But when I tried to open my old data file (lot of important records in it) - access was denied with a weird reason. Dialog box was saying something like - that file was created on a different computer... Take that file to that computer and after opening it, change its password option to "Permit access by multiple users", and save it... But there is no that "different computer" and there is no way to open that file at all...
After googling the problem I found this helpless thread -
acemoney : Message: file was created on a different computer. Recommendation - send data file with all your financial records to the company, which made AceMoney and they could try to help you to decode it back... As you could imagine, it's completely unacceptable proposition. It's financial data and as such is confidential
In my case I restored system on the day prior I used AceMoney the last time. And it helped. I was very lucky... But it made me thinking how bad current design of AceMoney actually is.
1. You may not noticed that option (go to
Tools | Options | Password, then tick the
Allow Multi-user access box ) and some day later discover that you can't access your data anymore...
2. Without that setting you can't move that file on any other computer... (and you may even don't know it until it'll happen)
3. Common regular backup of your data file is completely useless in this case...
4. The only solution the developer of AceMoney is offering now is to send your data file with all your confidential information to them. And not many may want to do so... and they will eventually loose all of their important records.
Again, it's bad (potentially dangerous for users) design of AceMoney. Users may easily (and completely unexpectedly) lock themselves out from their important financial records... If you're the user - be warned!