Harry,

>agreed - but this is one of those admin cases...

In that case, I would create a login table to track users in the system and then not allow the admin form to run if there are any other users in the system.

>ah - thats new - you mean, even though I've opened it as 'userfile' in the PDS, the rest of the app may not see it as that?

No, that's not what I mean. I mean a table named MyTable can be open with a different alias name. USED() checks for the alais name not the table name. So the following code will cause an error on the USE line inside the IF;

USE MyTable IN 0 && default alias is MyTable
USE MyTable IN 0 Again  && Fox gives this one a unique alias name
USE IN MyTable && Close the first one

IF NOT USED("MyTable")
   USE MyTable IN 0  && Error file is laready in use
ENDIF

* Fixed
IF NOT USED("MyTable")
   USE MyTable IN 0 ALIAS MyTbale AGAIN && No error now
ENDIF

>sounds useful, where can I find an example of that approach?

The sample application in VFP (TasTrader) uses one. Also the Application Wizard uses one as well.