Some notes on reinstalling
This isn’t a specific KB note, but more a collection of tips, suggestions, and things to remember when it comes to re-installing or moving our software.
Loss of data:
This is a big one, if you’re thinking about re-installing software.
The big one, Club Accounting, keeps all of its information outside of the Program folder. This means that if you uninstall Club Accounting, and then re-install it on the same computer, all of your information will still be there.
For Toolkit and Stock Analyst, this isn’t the case. Both of these programs need to have backups made before reinstalling, if you want to keep your information intact.
I’ve posted about moving data in and out of Toolkit before, so rather than rehashing those steps here, I’ll point you towards Support Ticket posting 7 and 7.5. These two postings were originally made for moving data from one computer to another, but they can be used just as effectively for making a backup. Stock Analyst is included in Support Ticket 14, which itself also has a quick note about making backups.
Installing the right version:
Club Accounting is again the big one here. Every time you make a backup, that backup file is effectively stamped with something that says what version of club accounting made the backup. If you reinstall Club Accounting from a CD your club got back in 2008, and try to import a backup you made last week, you’re going to run into an error. The best thing to do if you’re re-installing (and I would suggest this regardless of which program it is) will be to download the most recent version from our web site at:
http://www.iclub.com/support/downloads.asp
While the issue isn’t as big for Toolkit and Stock Analyst, they have both also had several updates since being released. Assuming you have a reasonable internet connection, it will often be faster to download the full updated copy of the program than to install an earlier copy, and have it run through the various updates.
I think the name may have changed, but at one of the shows I've been able to attend over the years, there was a presentation called Don't Do That! which was about some of the things that well meaning treasurers might do which would end up causing trouble down the road (The only one I remember right now is the reminder to not enter an expense when trying to withdraw a member.
With that in mind, I can give the following warning: Don't try to install one of our programs by copying folders from one computer to another. All three of the programs I've noted here install bits and peices in places other than their program folder on the computer; trying to install them by moving the folder will at best make them unstable, and at worst will make them simply not work.
On a similar note, also be careful where you install the software; while the installer may give a screen or two about where the program might install, it's really more of a way to let you know where it's going than an invitation to change the location. For Toolkit and Stock Analyst, it's not quite as important; if you install them in something other than the default location, the most common problem will be if you call one of us in support, and we get confused because Toolkit or Stock Analyst aren't where we expect them to be when we're checking things out.
Club Accounting is a different story, however. It's designed very specifically to install on to the C: drive of your computer, in a very specific folder inside of Program Files, or Program Files(x86) depending on your copy of Windows. While it's technically possible to get it to install somewhere else, and technically possible to get it to work when installed somewhere else, those technicallities both require enough tinkering with the deep settings in Windows that the note on how to make it all work is prefaced by a paragraph explaining that if you take these steps, you're on your own if anything goes wrong.