Census DataFerrett Install on other drive and Vista

On Other Drive
Census' stand-alone desktop DataFerrett can be downloaded from here. The current beta version for Windows (as of Feb. 8, 2010), when install, will automatically installed to C:\Program Files\.

Since my hard drive C: is almost full, I try to run the program from other drive. What I found out is that if you kept just the image and the messages sub-directory on C: and move everything else to other drive, the program will work fine.

Vista
Problem:
When I download the program on Feb. 11, 2010 and installed on my Vista Home C: drive. I also run into problems. Every time I start the program, it prompt to upgrade to version 1.03.05_B 2009-05-15 from version 1.03.04_B 2006???. I follow the prompt and program reported completion of the upgrade and asked me to click OK and to restart the program. But when I start the program, it again prompt me to upgrade to the same version.

Finally, I rename the file version.txt and start the program. The program reports error but it does send me to the normal starting window. I run into some problem when I try to download data and create table. But I will have to check more carefully to see if it is caused by my other actions.

Solution:
Well. On Vista, you need to right click the DataFerrett.exe and chose 'run as administrator'. This will download the new files into the \new sub-folder. After you click OK to dismiss the dialog, you need to right click on the file again and chose the 'run as administrator' again. This time, the old version of files will be copied into the \old sub-folder while the new files will be installed. The program should run fine from now on.

If you did copy the directory to other drive, the installation of new version is a snap. Somehow, the Vista is quite protective against the 'program files' directory.

Now I am a happy camper.

* I am an old fashion guy and I like to control the program I am running. I hate those program that automatically update themselves without any warning. If programs are going to upgrade themselves, they should notify the user, backup the old version and let the user decide if they want to upgrade or not. At least, they need allow the user to roll-back to old version - I think
Microsoft learned this well - updates could have side effects even if you are careful.