I definitely agree that using the file is quick & simple, and I do it frequently, but we still have lots of MODEMS here, cable modems, DSL modems, and modems, wireless modems, and modems on our notebooks!

And all of them are far less reliable than our LAN !

I wasn't trying to criticise your suggestion, I wanted to find out i you had any suggestions on how to make the system safer!

I try to use SQL for typical remote tasks anyway, get what you need and get out rather than flog those indexes remotely! Are there any tricks to use the remote files as read only or without automatic refresh , typically posting an update takes milliseconds, but users leave browse windows open all night long !

thx

mike