>I'm almost sure this didn't happen in VFP 5.

Nope, it also occurs in VFP 5.0. Like you, I also find it annoying, but I use GetFileVersion that is defined in FOXTOOLS.FLL.

Code Example:

SET LIBRARY TO FOXTOOLS.FLL ADDITIVE
LOCAL ARRAY laVersion(12)
LOCAL lnResult,ldVersion
lnResult = GetFileVersion("MyApp.EXE",@laVersion)
IF lnResult = 0
ldVersion = laVersion[11]
ENDIF

HTH,